THE IMPORTANCE OF PHYSICAL
FITNESS
Through the
industrial and technological revolution, our society has been modernized and
major transformation is taking place thus affecting our life by creating a
never ending appetite in self-gratification. We have been consumed by sedentary
lifestyle thus making it difficult for a majority to exercise routinely. Come to
think of it, what comes into your mind when you think of exercising or physical
fitness? Majority associate it with too much pain hence creating fear in them
that hinders them from making the right decision. We want to do what is easy
and what is comfortable and avoid pain, in this case eating unhealthily without
exercising. Be warned my friend, you could be digging an early grave with your
teeth.
Having said that, I
would like us to deeply understand the importance of physical fitness in our lives.
Before I do that let’s ask us a simple question. What is physical fitness? There are various definitions to it depending
with the nature of the environment. In simple words it’s the ability of our
body to perform efficiently in both work and leisure activities, to be healthy
and resist diseases. It’s also related to having a well mental state.
Medical practitioners
have various terminologies attached to the definition of physical fitness. They
include body fat composition, cardio
fitness, flexibility muscular strength and endurance or morphological, metabolic
and bone integrity.
Those who are in the sport industry also define
it differently. They refer physical fitness as individual strength and
endurance, individual performance, team performance and life time. Their close
friends in the bodybuilding sector have an interesting way of defining fitness.
They say it’s a state in which we have an athletic physique, good strength and
low body fat percentage good cardio endurance.
Our brothers and sisters from the military have
their own special way of defining physical fitness, which I find very amusing
and they refer PF as: agility, power, balance, reflex/reaction and speed.
With all this definitions, it will be
unfortunate for you to say you do not understand what it means to be physically
fit. Well that aside since it was not the business of today. Let’s go back to
the real thing which was the importance of physical fitness. I am going to look
at the benefits of physical fitness in the following category;
v Health benefits
v Aesthetic benefits
Health Benefits
Any attempt you make in physical activity will lead to improving
your health and your overall quality of life. Regular physical fitness has enormous
contribution in improving our respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Fitness
activity increases the heart beat rate, hence tremendous distribution of blood
to your body and mind and clear the blood vessels. Through this our lungs capacity
increases and the body becomes more effective in distribution of oxygen around
the body, resulting into a powerful sharper mind.
Our body immune systems
will always improve when we work our hearts through exercise that enhances the
fight against potential attacks from viruses, illnesses and even diseases.
Optimum weight is also attained through fitness activities. Our mood and mental
health is also realized through exercise, a sense of great psyche streams in us,
which makes us feel better, think better and even do better due to the increase
of motivation. It gives us a sense of achievement and helps in self-actualization
because it pushes us to do more.
According to medical researchers, it has been confirmed that
exercise activities reduces the risk of; heart
disease, stroke, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, obesity, depression and
anxiety, breast and colon cancer, osteoporosis. Those that already have
cancer, physical exercise reduce the cancer cells from spreading in your body.
What does this mean to
us?
It simply means that we should make effort in being active in our
entire life in regardless of our body or BMI. We should make physical exercise
our daily routine to reap all the benefits and save us money that we would
spend in hospital treating the chronic diseases. Physical fitness also means
healthy eating; that we should watch what we eat and cut of any food that does
not contribute to our well-being. Our health plate should always have 50% of
vegetables, 25% of proteins and 25% carbohydrates.
Aesthetic benefits
It’s evident that continuous
physical exercise will contribute immensely to your body structure, which
affects our physical look. This is what boosts our confidence in walking along
the streets. It gives us the courage to handle our day to day activities. In men
you will notice the bigger and bolder shoulders, the stomach ice cubes, the biceps,
big chest and balanced muscle all over the body. It’s this imposing figure that
makes them attractive to women. (The thrilling effect) Men will always have
this manly look that radiates good health, strength and sex appeal.
Women are not left out of
the equation either. You will observe that women who have engaged in constant
fitness exercise have adorable waist, toned muscles and impressive proportional
body shape, which makes them look magnificent in cloths. They become more
graceful in their movement physical space. They also radiate good health, strength
and confidence in body posture.
Our internal systems become balanced and our
skin will look good due to what is going on the inside of us just because of exercising.
Our physical look plays a major role in how we feel about ourselves. It boosts
our self-esteem. It’s therefore imperative that we take physical fitness very
seriously.
I hope
that this read will help you in developing a fitness exercise that will greatly
improve the quality of your life. It’s simple but not easy. Always remember
that you prevention is better than quire. Let’s not wait for crisis to occur so
that we act. Let’s take preventive measures now and save us the pain of not
keeping fit. It only works if you work it. Your number one goal after reading
this post should be keeping fit and eating healthily.
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