You may consider your fitness routine as something you perform simply to lose or maintain your weight. A lifetime commitment to fitness, however, helps you maintain a healthy heart and extend the length of your life. Knowing how lifetime fitness benefits you can provide the added motivation to begin or stick with an exercise program.
Significance
Exercise is activity that gets your heart pumping and helps to burn calories, according to Medical News Today. Exercise can be broken into three categories: light, moderate and vigorous. Light exercise involves going for a walk, an activity that you can accomplish without becoming excessively winded or out of breath. Moderate exercise is an activity you perform that makes you feel slightly out of breath. You can still carry on a conversation but may not be able to do so comfortably. This includes brisk walking or moderate cycling. Vigorous exercise burns the most calories and is the most strenuous, involving running or heavy weight training. Although you may not be able to perform strenuous exercise your entire life, virtually every age group can perform some level of exercise.
Mental Health
A lifetime fitness plan benefits not only your body but also your body, according to The Diet Channel. Exercise helps you to relieve stress by releasing mood-lifting substances called endorphins. When you experience depression or mood swings, these endorphins can help to lift your spirits. Exercise also can increase your self-confidence. When you have a strong, fit body, you will likely feel happier.
Disease Risk
A number of chronic diseases are associated with obesity due to inactivity and poor diet. Lifetime fitness can help to minimize your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, according to the Kids Health website. Because these factors can contribute to a deadly stroke or heart attack, lifetime fitness is an important part of your disease prevention prescription. Exercise that involves impact -- striking your feet against the ground -- can result in bone growth that prevents osteoporosis, according to Medical News Today.
Solution
Lifetime fitness requires three components that make up the American Heart Association's "FIT" formula: frequency, intensity and time. The AHA recommends that you exercise at least 30 minutes per day most days of the week at a level that is 50 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate. If you are short on time, these exercise sessions can be broken into smaller increments and still be beneficial. The best activities to perform are the ones that you can stick with: join an intramural league, walk, take an aerobics class or find some other exercise you enjoy doing.
Warning
Failing to make fitness a priority can result in a number of harmful factors. These include increased risk of premature death due to obesity. A lifetime fitness program helps you to maintain balance and coordination that can help you avoid disability and falls as you age. Physical inactivity causes you to have weaker muscles and bones, which affects your strength capacity.
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