::::: Exercising for Health :::::

Exercise for Health
Exercise and its Benefits

Execise Facts

Why Exercise?
Reduce Risk of Cardiovascular Disease -
Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death in the United States. The biggest risk factor for cardiovascular disease is lack of exercise. Regular exercise that lasts for at least 30 minutes and raises the heart rate helps to reduce this risk.

Reduce High Blood Pressure and High Blood Cholesterol -
High blood pressure and high blood cholesterol also increase the risk of heart disease. Regular, moderate-to-intense exercise that lasts for at least 30 minutes helps to reduce high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol. Lowering total blood cholesterola levels helps to prevent atherosclerosis, a condition in which fatty deposits build up on the walls of the arteries, restricting blood flow. There are two kinds of cholesterol-LDL and HDL. LDL cholesterol is responsible for fatty deposits which result in heart disease. HDL cholesterl has been linked to a lowered risk of heart disease. Regular exercise can help increase HDL cholesterol levels and lower total cholesterol levels.

Relieve Stress -

Stress contributes to heart disease and to other health problems. Exercise is a good remedy for stress.

Increase Energy Levels -
Exercise increases energy and helps the body resist fatigue. By helping to relieve tension and stress, exercising can also help people sleep better, which gives them more energy.

Improve Self-Image -
People who exercise know that they are doing something good for their bodies. By exercising consistently, they may build muscle tone and move toward or maintain a healthy weight. These results of exercise can lead to an improvement in self image.

Now that you know what exercising can do...lets move on to the Two Kinds of Exercise.

The two basic kinds of exercise are cardiovascular exercise and strength training. Both are important to having a healthy body and both have different benefits. Everyone can benefit from regularly doing both kinds of exercise.

Cardiovascular Exercise:
Cardiovascular exercise strengthens your heart and lungs, improves blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels, helps manage stress, increases energy levels and can help you reach or maintain a healthy weight. The best cardiovascular exercises are those that last for 30 minutes or more and increase your heart rate to 50-80% of its maximum capacity. This heart rate differs for each person, depending on gender, height, weight and exercise frequency. Moderate-to-intense exercises that raise heart rate include:
Brisk walking
Jogging or Running
Swimming
Bicycling
In-line skating
Jumping Rope
To achieve and maintain cariovascular fitness, you should exercise at least three times per week for at least 30 minutes. It is better to increase the amount of exercise time than exercise intensity.

Strength Training (Weight Training or Resistance Exercise):
Strength training makes specific muscles work harder by increasing the amount of weight that they must move. Regular strength training can help reduce blood cholesterol levels, prevent bone loss, reduce stress, and increase muscle strength.
Strength Training may iclude:
Stretching with rubber tubing
Doing sit-ups, push-ups, or pull-ups
Using weight machines
Lifting free weights
30 to 40 minutes of strength training two to three times a week is best.

Exercise Risks:

Exercising too hard or too long can cause injuries such as stress fractures, torn ligaments or pulled muscles. Working up to the activity and paying attention to the little pains in your body can prevent serious injury.
Heat exhaustion, heat stroke or heart problems as a result of exercising are not common. You can avoid heat exhaustion and heat stroke by drinking plenty of water and by wearing appropriate clothing. You can also exercise indoors or during cooler times of day. Heart problems may occur in people who exercise too strenuously for their physical condition. Some warning signs are chest pain, extreme breathlessness, light-headedness or fainting.. If you experience any of these symptoms, you should contact a healthcare provider immediately.

Making Exercise a Part of Daily Living: Certain things that people do every day can be adjusted to increase their levels of physical activity. some daily activities can be arranged to provide opportunities for exercise.

Everyday Physical Activity:
Although some daily activites do not offer all of the benefits of sustained, moderate-to-intense exercise, they can help to increase a person's activity levels. Increased activity can help relieve stress, improve muscle coordination and tone, and burn calories.
These activities include:
Doing housework
Gardening
Walking around the building or house during a break at work or home.
Standing while using the telephone
Taking the stairs instead of the elevator.
These kinds of everyday physical activities usually do not raise a person's heart rate to 50-80% of its maximum capacity for at least 30 minutes. For this reason, it is important to find ways to make moderate-to-intense physical activites routine.
This is information on the importance of exercise. Below, we'll go into getting started on your exercise program.

Part 2 - Exercise Facts.

Getting Started:
1. Consider your health and present level of fitness If you have not been active for some time, begin your exercise program slowly and work up to your desired fitness level. Contact your healthcare provider if you have any questions about your health or exercise program.
2. Choose activities that will increse your heart rate, that you enjoy and that you can do.
In order to increase cardiovascular fitness or muscle strength, you need to make activities like brisk walking or jogging habitual. You may enjoy jogging alone, or you may find that having an exercise partner makes physical activity more fun and makes it easier to keep exercising.
3. Find ways to vary your exercise routine.
You may find that walking several different routes keeps your exercise routine interesting, or you may vary your exercise pattern by walking one day and bicycling on another.
4. Keep Exercising
Sometimes you start exercising and discover that you just cannot find 3 minutes three days each week. Even if you miss a few sessions of exercise, try to get back into the exercise habit. Finding other people to exercise with may help. Also, keep exercising even if you do not see immediate results-exercise gives you many unseen benefits. Exercise does not have to take a lot of time. You can exercise while completing daily activities and by setting aside small amounts of exercise time. Three sessions of 10 minutes total 30 minutes of exercise in a day. Some people find that starting with smaller amounts of time makes it easier to exercise.
5. Avoid comparing yourself to others
Fitness and health depend on many different factors, including gender, height, weight, body frame and inherited conditions. So, fitness and health are different for each person, which makes individual comparison between people of little value. The goal for exercising is to be healthy and have fun, not to be like someone else.
Exercise for Age & Stage
Exercise for Children.
Children often do not get enough exercise, but physical activity helps to improve their health and reduce risks of certain health problems. Children can exercise daily by regularly walking, bicycling, playing, and participating in organized sports or other activities. Children need to enjoy and feel confident about their physical activities. Family activities that increase heart rate also help children to learn the importance of exercise.

Exercise for Adults
Exercise can help improve sleep, maintain weight, prevent or manage chronic conditions like diabeties, decrease the risk of colon cancer, and increase muscle strength in adults. Physical activity can be a part of daily activites or a weekly routine. Exercise does not mean time away from important activites such as spending quality time with friends and family. Exercising together is fun and helps keep activities interesting.

Exercise for Older People
Moderate activities can help older people stay active, independent and mange or prevent certain chronic conditions. Strength training can prevent muscle and bone loss, improve balance and reduce arthritis pain. Stretching can improve flexibility, make movement easier and reduce the risk of injury and muscle strain. Older people should spend additional time warming up and cooling down. They also need to drink water approximately every 15 minutes if they plan to be active for more than 30 minutes.
People who have not been active should gradually increase exercise amounts. They may find it easier to begin with a program of moderate strength training and stretching. Once confidence, strength and balance have improved, they may want to add cardiovascular exercise. If older people experience chest pain or any other unusual symptoms, they should contact their healthcare provider immediatley.

Exercise Safely
People at every age and stage need to be safe when exercising.
Warming up and Cooling down:
Warming up prepares your muscles for exercise and gradually raises your heart rate. Cooling down gets your muscles ready for normal activity and slowly decreases your heart rate to its normal rate. Warming up and cooling down can help minimize injuries.

Stretching:
Stretching increases blood flow, loosens muscles and reduces risk of muscle strain. It can also help prevent some injuries and can be a part of warming up and cooling down.

Adequate Hydration:
Drinking enough water is necessary for everyone. Drinking water during exercise is especially important if you exercise during hot weather or for a long time. Sports drinks may be helpful during or after certain kinds of activities.

Proper Equipment:
Wearing comfortable clothes, shoes that fit properly, and having any safety equipment necessary for a specific exercise is very important. For example: helmets and proper pads can prevent some injuries.

Correct Position:

Good exercises can injure joints or muscles if you do them incorrectly. It may be helpful to work with a professional trainer until you feel confident that you are doing your exercise correctly.

This concludes Exercise Facts and Getting Started. *S*

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