physical activity

According to the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans report, adults between the ages of 18-64 should do 2 and a half hours of medium intensity or 1 and a quarter hours of high intensity physical aerobic activity a week. The report advises that aerobic activity should be conducted in sessions lasting longer than 10 minutes. It also suggests that it is better to spread our exercise out over the course of the week as opposed to a massive session just once a week. It also includes a host of other health and fitness tips.

Health Benefits Of Exercise

Exercising regularly improves your health and fitness and can also help prevent many problematic health conditions. Regardless of your current health condition, you can benefit from a exercise program tailored to your individual needs. Physical exercise has an effect on many health conditions so it is worth spending some time to work out what level of physical activity is best for you.

Physical activity covers a wider range of activities than physical exercise which is typified as being a structured exercise program designed with the aim of improving health. The benefits of physical activity are many, they include combating diseases like coronary heart disease, stroke, some cancers, type 2 diabetes and osteoporosis; reducing the risks associated with diseases like high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol; physical activity improves our bodies with regard to aerobic capacity, endurance and muscle strength; exercise is a great way to fight depression as our bodies feeling better has a positive effect on our mental health.

There are a variety of physical activities that have different effects upon us. Depending on the results you want, choosing an appropriate exercise regimen is of paramount importance. Even if you don’t have time or feel that you can’t do it, doing a little is much better than doing none. As you start to feel the benefits you are likely going to want to increase your level of activity.

This kind of activity, which includes resistance training and lifting weights, causes the body’s muscles to work or hold against an applied force or weight. These activities often involve relatively heavy objects, such as weights, which are lifted multiple times to train various muscle groups. Muscle-strengthening activity can also be done by using elastic bands or body weight for resistance (climbing a tree or doing push-ups, for example).

strength training

Of course you can visit the gym and use free weights or machines to work various muscle groups. Strength training is something that can be done without incurring any cost. Even in your house you can do things like push-ups and abdominal work that doesn’t take much time nor cost you a penny.

Going to the gym gives you a much wider choice of the types of exercises you can do so it is worth going to find out if it is something you enjoy. Training at a gym can become very addictive. Community sports centers are often much cheaper than private gyms so if money is an issue, it is worth spending the time to discover the places that offer best value.

aerobic training

Again one needn’t spend anything to do aerobic exercise. Walking and jogging are two perfect examples of things you can try if you want to increase your general health. Rather than worrying about how fast you walk or run a certain distance, it might be worth considering simply picking a time, e.g. 15 minutes, that you will jog for and over time gradually increase the duration of your exercise. Rather than looking for easy fast weight lose shortcuts, focussing on consistently taking a bit of exercise a day will pay off over the long run. Not only will loosing weight be possible but exercise makes us feel better too. Research suggests that it is the time spent exercising as opposed to the intensity of the exercise that offers greatest health benefits.

Considered in conjunction with available dietary guidelines the physical activity guidelines are an excellent way to improve your overall health and fitness.

dietary guidelines

Dietary guidelines for Americans 2005 is a very interesting report discussing all manner of suggestions for our diets. It is a long and detailed document although well worth spending some time with if you are at all concerned about the health, or not, of your current diet. It details the relationship between health and food.

The report is published jointly between the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services every five years and has been since 1980. The dietary guidelines are not for babies but provide information on dietary goals, making our diets better and how to improve health and reduce the risk of chronic disease.

Chapter 5 discusses Food groups to encourage. It provides a detailed discussion of why foods we know are good for us, like fruit and vegetables, are in fact good for us. The report also suggests what quantities of fruit, vegetables, dairy and whole grain produce we should be consuming in our diets.

It tells us that a diet rich in fruit and vegetables reduces our risk of chronic diseases such as strokes and other cardiovascular diseases as well as specific types of diabetes and cancers. Everyone knows eating lots of fruit and vegetables in our diet is a good thing. We all know it will make us feel healthy and improve our vitality. But we’re still not doing it! The dietary guidelines simply suggest replacing low density nutrient food with higher quality nutrient dense foods.

The paper goes on to outline what nutrients come from which foods. So variety of fruit and vegetables is as important as quantity. It is a great resource to help you create a healthy diet plan.

If you think of your body as an engine, surely you’d want to put give it the highest quality gas. I know I do.

Eating a better diet has a variety of beneficial effects upon our health. One of the most important for me is simply feeling good, feeling energetic, feeling alive.

Healthy diets are a great way to improve the quality of your life without recourse to medications, treatments and therapy.

Reference: Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005