Why is Physical Activity & Fitness Important?



Would you like to:


  • Decrease your risk of disease?
  • Feel better physically and mentally?
  • Look better?
  • Help avoid injuries?
  • Keep doing activities you enjoy throughout your life?
Regular physical activity will help you do these things. Physical activity is essential to prevent and reduce risks of many diseases and improve physical and mental health. It can even help you live longer—research from the American Journal of Preventative Medicine indicates that regular exercise can add up to five years to your life.
Physical activity also keeps you in shape so you can enjoy leisure activities and safely perform work and home chores. It offers great mental and social benefits as well. The Lancet released a series of studies that attribute positive outcomes to physical activity, including “a sense of purpose and value, a better quality of life, improved sleep, and reduced stress, as well as stronger relationships and social connectedness.”
On the other hand, lack of physical activity is associated with increased risks of:
  • Anxiety, stress, and feelings of depression
  • Developing many preventable conditions, such as high blood pressure, coronary heart diseases, diabetes, osteoporosis, colon cancer, and obesity
  • Dying prematurely
The authors of the Lancet studies even suggest that the sedentary lifestyle so common in our culture is more deadly than smoking. They also believe that 6-10% of the world’s non-communicable diseases (such as heart disease, diabetes, and certain kinds of cancer) are caused by physical inactivity.

12 important reasons to be physically active

1. Be healthier
2. Increase your chances of living longer
3. Feel better about yourself
4. Reduce the chance of becoming depressed
5. Sleep better at night
6. Look good
7. Be in shape
8. Get around better
9. Have stronger muscles and bones
10. Achieve or maintain a healthy weight
11. Be with friends or meet new people
12. Have fun

Physical activity reduces risk for eight conditions

According to the Centers for Disease Control, exercise can reduce your risk of:

Fitness for kids

Regular physical exercise is important for younger generations too, especially with the rise of obesity in children. Heart disease, type 2 diabetes, asthma, and social discrimination are just a few of the possible consequences of a childhood spent in front of the television or the internet. Check out Let's Move! for nutrition and fitness tips for children.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10 World Most Eloquent People

Image
Only the eloquent can adequately describe eloquence. It includes articulation, a mellifluous tone of voice and poise under pressure. To be eloquent is to speak well in a persuasive and deeply thoughtful way. Though it appears to come easily, eloquence does not often come naturally. The most talented speakers often have training in rhetoric and behavioral psychology. Here are 10 great examples of eloquent speakers who have made their mark on the world. 1. Martin Luther King, Jr “I Have a Dream” is perhaps the most powerful speech in American history. In poetic, unequivocal language, he explains how people can live up to their ideals for the sake of their children. 2. Abraham Lincoln In a speech only two minutes long, Lincoln explained the moral justification for the Civil War in his Gettysburg Address. 3. Winston Churchill In a few short years Churchill transformed himself from a burly, unemployed, failed novelist to a leader of the free world with ...
Read more

St. Finbaar’s College, Akoka wins the annual Helmbridge Science Challenge for secondary schools in Lagos State.

St. Finbarr’s College Akoka, Lagos at the weekend won the annual Helmbridge Science Challenge for secondary schools in Lagos State. The school in a six-week-long competition defeated May Day College and Topgrade Secondary School, Surulere in the preliminaries to qualify for the final. The Akoka boys who walked-over Penny International College Coker, the defending champions, for late coming, went into sporadic jubilation on their victory. The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN reports that 16 schools participated in the competition, including Yaba College of Technology Secondary School, St. Finbaar’s College, Penny Internatinal College, Shining Lord’s Secondary and Technical School. Others are St. Michael’s Anglican College, Jubilee Model Grammar school, Fountain Heights Secondary School, St. Gregory’s College and St. Jude’s Private Secondary School. Also in the competition are Methodist Boys’ High School, Birch Freeman High School, Community Senior Grammar School and ABS College. ...
Read more

BIAFRA: IPOB, MASSOB shut down markets, Uwazuruike expelled

Image
  Visit Late Odumegwu Ojukwu’s house to seek his blessing Uwazuruike expelled, Madu takes over as MASSOB leader Forget Biafra, secession —Nwabueze Over seven thousands members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, yesterday,   shut   down markets and all commercial activities in Nnewi, Anambra State in solidarity protest for the release of the Director of Radio Biafra, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, who has been incarcerated by  the Directorate of State Services, DSS, for over one month. Members of the IPOB mobilized from Onitsha, Asaba, Awka, Ekwulobia, Awka-Etiti, Enugu, Imo, Ebonyi and Abia states, converged at  Nnewi from where they marched to the house of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu to ask for his blessing even in death. This came as constitutional lawyer and leader of eminent group of Nigerians, The Patriots , Professor Ben Nwabueze (SAN),  admonished  the  groups to have a re-think over th...
Read more