Health benefits of exercise

Health Benefits of Exercise

Everyone knows that exercise is good for health, but not many people exercise on a regular basis. Today, in the United States, there are very many obese people, who are basically inactive and who do not exercise. It must be acknowledged that exercise is indeed beneficial to the long-term as well as the short-term health of a person, and unless one undertakes some form of exercise on a daily basis, he would be putting himself at a great risk to heart diseases, diabetes, colon cancer, and various other diseases. Therefore, one must understand that exercise is a great way to ensure one's health and well being, and that health would be maintained only if one exercises regularly.

Analysis:

It is a well-known and a well accepted fact that exercise is beneficial to one's health,, and that one must indulge in some form of exercise on a regular basis in order to remain healthy. There is now sufficient proof that there are several physical and psychological advantages which are available from having regular exercises which should be accepted by all those who are involved in health care. (Fentem, 1291) A wide range of exercises can make up the basic exercise regimen of an individual, and this may include gardening, walking, and dancing. Certain planned exercises and recreation may also contribute to the basic thirty minutes of exercise that a person needs, like for example, jogging, swimming, and cycling. Today, there are simple assessment tools which have been devised to gauge the amount of exercise and the type of exercise that an individual would need, and to test the aerobic fitness, or the maximal oxygen intake, of the person as well. As one is able to progressively increase the duration, the frequency and the intensity of the exercise that he is doing, the index score and the fitness levels go up. One can then choose whether he is enjoying the activity, and how much of that activity he can undertake. When he is able to score a forty or more on the activity index, it would mean that he is indeed active enough to be able to earn most of the benefits that are associated with exercise. (Sharkey, 8)

Today, in the United States of America, there is a high level of inactivity, even though the previous generations were a vigorously active people of farmers, miners, road workers, laborers, and loggers. As a matter of fact, it is being recognized that the United States is one of the few developed countries in the world that has been consistently ignoring the need for health care, and the fact that one would look better, feel better, and be more energetic as well as active, and delay the onset of chronic illness, and eventually prolong the period of adult vigor have not been publicized widely. All this has led to the creation of a mostly inactive and obese generation of Americans, today. (Sharkey, 8)

The habit of taking regular recreational exercise is best suitable to be initiated during childhood and must be followed into mid age and if it is possible it should be progressed into old age since exercise enables to make the maximum use of reducing physical capacity. (Fentem, 1291) In essence, the general health benefits of exercise are a reduced risk in many factors: a reduced risk of dying prematurely, and of dying prematurely because of the onset of heart disease, a reduced risk of developing diseases like diabetes, high pressure, and of colon cancer. In addition, those persons who are already suffering from high blood pressure or from anxiety and depression will find that their health would improve as the level of activity increases. The other health benefits of exercise are that the body weight would be maintained, the building up and the maintenance of healthy bones and muscles and joints would be achieve, and in older adults, strength of limbs and muscles would be effectively maintained so that there is a reduced risk of their falling down. A feeling of psychological well being would be ultimately achieved, and this would make the individual feel good about himself and about his entire physical body. (Heyward, 3)

Of late, however, there is an increasing awareness of all the benefits that exercise would bring into a person's life, and a Gallup survey revealed that while a decade ago, not many women would exercise with weights, today, about 15% of women do use weights in their exercise regimen, and quite a few aerobics classes use weights for their training. Today, exercise does not automatically bring to mind endless workouts, or marathon runs; today, exercise is a form of activity that one would enjoy doing, and this could be anything from dancing to jogging, to fitness walking, and to ballroom dancing. There are others who choose unique forms of activity, like mountain biking to skating, and step aerobics, which is almost like a dance, wherein participants climb up and down steps holding weights in their hands. Cross training is also popular these days, which is a form of exercise that combines different forms of exercise in a less boring and more interesting way for the exercisers. This means that today, the older idea that exercises must of course be painful and boring has changed almost completely, and the idea that one must and can indeed enjoy one's exercise has taken its place. It was during the 1980's that researchers found that moderate exercise would ensure the well being and the health of the individual, and that expending about 1000 calories a day would bring about the desired results. (University of California at Berkeley, 233)

Exercise and the effective management of disease are interconnected, and today, this fact is also being widely recognized and accepted. Therefore, to remain free from disease, one must undertake some form of exercise on a regular basis. Physical inactivity is one of the main reasons for the onset of cardiovascular disease, and if there is a minimum of thirty minutes of moderate exercise everyday, then the risk would be considerably lowered. (Leutholtz; Ripoll, 22) Stroke can be prevented, and also diabetes, obesity, back pain, osteoporosis, and many other moderate and high risk diseases. For an individual to gain the greatest possible benefits of exercise, he must therefore undertake at least twenty to thirty minutes of some form of exercise three or more times a week, and also indulge in some form of muscle strengthening and stretching activities at least two times every week.