How Do Activities Promote and Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle?

At present, physical activity is a public health issue. The benefits inherent in practicing physical activity are widely recognized for a healthy lifestyle. According to the World Health Organization, physical activity reduces the risk of premature death from cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes and colon cancer, reduces depression and anxiety, helps control body weight,  meal planning reduces hypertension maintain the health and well-functioning of the musculoskeletal system, improve mobility and promote psychological well-being.

We can begin to talk about how to do physical activities promote a healthy lifestyle using a retrospective view of someone who is late (a lifetime) realized what I am giving you today:

Fortunately, the advances in medicine allow us to live longer. But what we need to realize is what state we will live in. Have you asked yourself how you think your health will be old? What do you want to do to be able to have a high quality of life after 60 years or even before? And if there was a “miracle” pill that you take every day, you could cut your chances of getting cancer by 20 percent, your heart disease by 30 percent, your risk of diabetes is 50 percent, and that helps you live longer and healthier as you get older?

How much would you be willing to pay for it?

Would we insist with our children, parents, family, friends, to take it? It’s about the importance of this “miracle” tablet that we’re going to talk about. This blessing is unfortunately not used by everyone, as it has a counterpart. It needs the willpower to be activated and thus to release and exercise its health-promoting qualities. I present you:

Physical Activity for a Healthy Lifestyle

THE RESULT OF EVOLUTION

Our body evolves over thousands of years, what we are today has developed based on effort, hardship, deprivation, the harshness of climate. The organs were constituting and developing, prepared for the effort. Life depended much more on muscular strength than today, all the internal structures that constitute us, require a certain degree of effort to establish the homeostatic balance, only then will they function well and in a healthy way.

We use much less adaptive functions than our ancestors. Especially in the last 50 years, we have become accustomed to the environment, by mechanisms created by intelligence and not by physiological mechanisms. The muscular effort was not eliminated but became much less frequent. Suppressing the muscular effort of everyday life, we also suppressed, without knowing it, the constant exercise to which the internal organs gave themselves to maintain the balance. As it is known, muscles consume sugar and oxygen, produce heat, and release lactic acid into circulating blood. To adapt to these changes, the body is forced to put into action the heart, respiratory system, liver, pancreas, kidneys, sweat glands, cerebrospinal system and sympathetic nervous system.

Starting from the principle of evolution: What is not used atrophy

In short, day-to-day or even low-intensity exercises are probably not the equivalents of the continuous muscular activity our ancestors exercised. Today the physical effort expended is drastically lessened, and this becomes harmful to us! The activity of all systems of the body exerts a powerful influence on the healthy development of the individual. We know that functioning, rather than spending the anatomical structures, make them more resilient. Thus the use of organic and mental activities is the safest means of improving the quality of tissues and consequently of life.

However, the activity has more benefits, when there is a programmed and regular exercise practice with intensities that mobilize the body’s adaptive capacity.

Taking the concept of health as a positive state, and not merely an absence of disease, as advocated by the World Health Organization (WHO), it is necessary to promote health behaviors (in this case specific promotion of physical exercise), taking into account the different ages, cultural and educational aspects.

How do physical activities promote a healthy lifestyle?

An active lifestyle, including a regular practice of physical exercise, as has been consistently emphasized, improves the quality of life of individuals in various ways, with physical and psychological benefits associated with exercise being often emphasized:

• In maintaining or developing bone and muscle structures
• In the prevention or reduction of blood pressure
• Increased ability of the body to respond to stress
• Relieving muscle tension
• Pain reduction
• Better perception of well-being
• A greater perception of effectiveness and personal control
• Period of activity that allows a time of withdrawal and distraction from everyday problems

Physical exercise reduces the risk of premature death from cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes and colon cancer, reduces depression and anxiety, helps control body weight, reduces high blood pressure, maintains health and function of the musculoskeletal system and improve mobility. However, despite the evidence, studies suggest that the percentage of practitioners is greatly reduced. The world health surveys (WHO) are remarkably similar: the percentage of sedentary or near-sedentary adults fluctuates from 60% to 85%. Today’s culture takes millions of people to the point where it is urgent to implement effective measures to promote physical activity and improve health.

Exercise can prevent:

• Osteoporosis
• Diabetes
• Hypertension
• Infarct

Physical exercise improves:

• Ability to care
• Self-esteem
• Functional capacity
• Posture
• Immunity to infections
• Sleep patterns
• Disease recovery and surgeries
• Physiological performance

Physical exercise reduces:

• Ache
• Obesity
• Fatigue
• Incontinence
• Need for some medications
• Loneliness

Lack of exercise can contribute to:

• Heart problems
• Asthma
• Multiple disabilities
• Angina pectoris

The disability may cause some complications such as:

• Deep vein thrombosis
• Edemas
• Cold
• Depression and anxiety
• Dependency
• Falls and injuries
• Poor circulation

BENEFITS of how to do physical activities promote a healthy lifestyle FOR THE HEART

It improves the functioning of the heart (for the same effort, the cardiac work becomes less). Increases resistance to physical stress and stress. Reduces heart disease (angina, heart attack, arrhythmias, insufficiency, etc.). It increases survival even in people who have had a heart attack. It stimulates a better vascularization ( an increase of blood supply to the heart itself), which guarantees the better functioning of the organ. Reduces risk factors for coronary arteries – such as blood pressure and cholesterol.

BENEFITS TO FIGHTING DEPRESSION

Physical activity helps people feel better, reflecting on improved mood and reduced state of anxiety. It can also help people feel better about themselves by improving self-perceptions and can improve self-esteem, especially in those with low self-esteem.

BENEFITS FOR THE BACK

A variety of endurance activities that do not cause too much stress on the lower back can relieve low back pain. General leisure activities are recommended for people with low back pain.

IMPROVING PULMONARY CAPACITY

Physical activity increases the network of small vessels that irrigate the pulmonary alveoli (gas exchange structures), enhancing lung oxygen uptake. In this way, breathing becomes more efficient.

WHAT IS A HEALTH LIFESTYLE?

It is not necessary to be a high-level athlete, and it is not necessary to be an excellent weightlifter, nor to train for hours or to be very muscular or to do physical prowess.

A healthy lifestyle is a state that allows the person to improve and maintain the ability to resist and tolerate internal and external demands, without physical and psychological damage.

Summary recommendations for physical activity, health, and well-being

Physical activity should:

• Involve multiple muscle groups
• Be practiced regularly and if possible daily
• Increase progressively
• In practice, a rhythmic exercise with significant intensity, such as 20-30 minute walks, will fulfill the requirements described

TO REMOVE THE MAXIMUM BENEFIT, THE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY MUST:

• Include some periods of intense physical activity
• Include a wide range of aerobic and anaerobic exercises
• Work a large part of the muscles of the trunk and lower limbs
• be maintained throughout life

TIPS FOR WHO WANT TO START THE PRACTICE OF PHYSICAL EXERCISE:

• Frequency – 3 to 5 times a week with 1 or 2 days rest for recovery
• Intensity – weak to moderate, start with weak rhythms and build resistance over an extended period (more than two months)
• A training program to succeed should be individualized
• One program does not work for everyone

AEROBIC ACTIVITY

It is known that the aerobic activity lasts between 20 and 30 minutes, yields significant gains regarding health and well-being. However, it should be taken into account the concepts of:

• Duration
• Intensity
• Frequency
• Type of activity
• Type of supervision

The practice of punctual and unorganized physical exercise does not have the same effect as the benefits generated by a more vigorous, regular and programmed activity, more particularly in the release of endorphins. Most people need a few months of regular practice to achieve the appropriate levels of frequency, intensity, and duration that will allow significant positive changes.

PRECAUTIONS FOR A HEALTHY BEGINNING:

To avoid pain and injury, you should schedule a gradual and gradual increase in physical activity to the desired value to give the body time to adjust. People with chronic health problems such as heart disease, diabetes or obesity, or those at high risk for these problems should consult a doctor before starting a physical activity program. Also, men over 40 years of age and women over 50 who plan to start a vigorous new physical activity program must first consult a physician to make sure they do not have heart disease or other health problems.

From a health education perspective, considering the practice of physical activities, health behavior in parallel with other health behaviors (primary health care, nutrition, prevention of consumption, prevention of sexual risk behaviors), effectiveness in modifying behaviors in the sense of adopting an active lifestyle that includes the practice of physical activities goes through a diverse set of strategies (such as: understanding the history of the behavior targeted, identifying social, situational, cognitive and emotional determinants, behavioral change, among others). When we refer to studies on the adoption of active lifestyles, we consider, on the one hand, the effects of physical activity on the physical and mental state of individuals, that is, physical activity as a phenomenon whose effects we intend to evaluate, measure and compare.

The intention is to alert the community to the need to promote the practice of physical activities, given the proven benefits.

The benefits of practicing physical activity far outweigh its risks. However, under certain conditions, infrequent, physical activity can have negative consequences. Whether it is psychological feelings arising from failure to join a regular program or from excessive physical activity may lead to a state of “exercise dependence,” or exercises that are inappropriate for the intended purpose.