Dear Kids and Adults, physical activity is super important.
Studies show that participation in physical activity has been decreasing with age, which we probably have already gathered from out own personal experience. Participating in physical activity (now) will help us to age gracefully (later), your heart and your brain will thank you. Being physical also means that your psychological well-being will be better off in the long run. So let’s all take a step back and go over why we even need to move at all.
Sometime we completely put off exercise due to life demands.
Overtime we become tired, busy, and often lacking the facilities or environment to exercise as much as we want (well, need). For example, sitting in a car for hours to get to work, sitting at work, then the same thing on the way back home, only to then pass out!
Perhaps the real problem lies with not knowing or remembering why we need to move in the first place. With knowing the benefits and incorporating exercise into our (extremely hectic) lives we could increase our overall health and training effectiveness. So what are some benefits you may ask? Let me guide you.
Some Benefits of Daily Exercise:
- a healthy intake of oxygen to the brain and through the blood
- joint flexibility
- muscular strength
- long-term health
Some Dangers of Being Sedentary:
- decrease in bone density
- increases blood pressure
- muscular pain and tightness
- more difficult to burn fat (just to put it out there)
Easy ways to get exercise:
- walking/ jogging/ running (or, take the stairs!)
- swimming
- dancing (yes, even at the club)
- bicycling
Please remember that taking precaution and consulting a professional about pain or discomfort during exercise is extremely important. Besides, incorporating exercise into your daily routine is meant to be fun and help you feel good.
Just for you
Merkel, R., Judge, L., Stodden, D. and Griffin, K. (2014). Importance of health-related fitness knowledge to increasing physical activity and physical fitness. The Physical Educator, 71, 218-233.
Springer, J., Lamborn, S., and Pollard, D. (2013). Maintain physical activity over time: the importance of basic psychological need satisfaction in developing the physically active self. American journal of Health Promotion, 27 (5).
Quantum, M., Tammelin, T., Ebeling, H., Stamatakis, and Tania, A. (2015). High levels of physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness are associated with good self-rated health in adolescents. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 12, 266-272.
