Getting and maintaining physical activity is essential to our overall health. It prevents diseases, builds strength, boosts energy, reduces stress, and helps maintain a healthy weight. Aerobic exercise is any activity that makes you breathe harder, increase your heart rate and sweat profusely. It can be anything from a brisk walk to lifting heavy weights or doing yard work like shoveling the driveway.
Muscle Strength
Muscular strength exercise is an essential part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. It helps build strong muscles to support balanced body weight, improve athletic performance, and boost overall health. Strength training also improves your posture, strengthens bones and joints, reduces back pain, and helps you move better without falling. In addition, it can help you overcome chronic conditions such as arthritis or a heart condition. Although many people associate muscle strength with bodybuilding, it can benefit everyone, regardless of fitness level or age. It also helps prevent the natural loss of lean muscle mass as we age (sarcopenia). While most muscle-strengthening workouts are done in a gym, you can use the exercises in your everyday life to build muscle and stay fit. Try squatting when you pick up laundry off the floor or lunging when you walk from one room to the next. The United States Department of Health and Human Services guidelines recommend adults do moderate or intense muscle-strengthening workouts that target all major muscle groups two days a week. And they suggest incorporating these routines into other forms of physical activity.
Cardiovascular Health
Cardiovascular health exercise is essential for your heart and lungs. It strengthens them, improves your body’s ability to handle stress, and reduces your risk of chronic diseases like high blood pressure, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. Aerobic exercise can be done in various ways, including walking, running, bicycling, stair climbing, swimming, rowing, or elliptical training. It can also lower your risk of heart attack and stroke. The American Heart Association recommends 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous weekly activity. Your healthcare provider can help you choose the best form of cardiovascular exercise to fit your needs. Let’s start with shorter sessions and gradually increase the time and intensity. When you exercise, your heart and lungs pump more oxygen to your body, which helps maintain healthy levels of glucose in your blood. It can also strengthen your muscles and bones, helping you stay strong. Physical activity can also improve your flexibility, which makes it easier for your joints to move and bend. This can help you perform better in sports or other activities that require physical strength and flexibility, such as dance or martial arts. You can prevent cardiovascular disease by maintaining a healthy weight, eating a healthy diet, quitting smoking, and exercising regularly. You can also see a healthcare provider for a yearly checkup to catch issues before they become symptomatic.
Mental Health
Mental health is a state of being that includes emotions, thinking, communication, learning, resilience, hope, and self-esteem. It is essential for our personal and emotional well-being, relationships, work, and community or social contribution. Good mental health means living fully with purpose, happiness, and meaning. It also includes being able to cope with stress and anxiety. If you have a mental health condition, exercise can help you recover and improve your overall mental health. It can reduce stress, increase mood, and boost energy levels. In your brain, exercise stimulates the release of chemicals that help you feel better, like endorphins and serotonin. It can also improve your sleep. Some people may also find that meditation and mindfulness practices, such as yoga or tai chi, help them deal with stress and anxiety. For others, therapy with a trained mental health professional can help them work through life’s challenges. Treatment can be a combination of medication, psychosocial treatment, and lifestyle changes such as diet, exercise, adequate sleep, good sleep hygiene, friends, and meaningful paid or volunteer activities. It is essential to get help early so that the best possible recovery can be achieved.
Weight Management
Weight management is a term healthcare professionals use to describe the practices and behaviors necessary to maintain a healthy body weight. They include lifestyle strategies such as diet and exercise and behavioral modifications like a change in self-image or a reduction in stress levels. Although diets are usually the primary component of weight loss and maintenance programs, it is also vital to incorporate regular exercise into a program. This is because it burns calories and improves mood and physical energy levels. In addition to its many benefits, regular exercise can help control your weight by using excess calories that would otherwise be stored as fat. You should get 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity at least five days weekly. This includes various sports, work-related tasks, and household chores. Generally, it would be best to start with low-impact exercises and gradually increase your intensity as your fitness level improves. The key to weight management is developing a positive attitude and realistic goals that can be achieved over time. It is also helpful to draw upon internal motivators such as a desire to have more energy, live longer, or improve your quality of life. The best way to do this is to use a combination of behavioral techniques, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy or a weight-management diet paired with exercise. These methods can be effective for achieving and maintaining healthier body weight, even in overweight people who are not obese.
