Why physical fitness is important
From wikiWHYfiles
[edit] Introductory Note
What does it mean to be physically "fit?" Physical fitness is defined as "a set of attributes that people have or achieve that relates to the ability to perform physical activity".
[edit] Reason
In its most general meaning, physical fitness is a general state of good physical health. Obtaining and maintaining physical fitness is a result of physical activity, proper diet and nutrition and of course proper rest for physical recovery. In its simplest terms, physical fitness is to the human body what fine-tuning is to an engine. It enables people to perform up to their potential. Regardless of age, fitness can be described as a condition that helps individuals look, feel and do their best. Thus, physical fitness trainers, describe it as the ability to perform daily tasks vigorously and alertly, with left over energy to enjoy leisure-time activities and meet emergency demands. Specifically true for senior citizens, physical fitness is the ability to endure, bear up, withstand stress and carry on in circumstances where an unfit person could not continue.
In order for one to be considered physically fit, the heart, lungs, and muscles have to perform at a certain level for the individual to continue feeling capable of performing an activity. At the same time, since what humans do with their bodies directly affects the state of mind, fitness influences to some degree qualities such as mental alertness and emotional expression.
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- Using your body makes it better in pretty much every way. A used muscle gets stronger, especially when subjected to gradually heavier loads such as when you do a weight training routine. Joints and ligaments get stronger, decreasing the risk of injuries in your day-to-day life (assuming you're not overdoing it -- see the next section). But the Big Kahuna is of course your cardiovascular system. Your heart is a muscle, which responds to exercise by getting stronger and more efficient at its job. This in turn decreases your resting heart rate and blood pressure, which keeps the arteries from stiffening and thus decreasing the risk of getting clogged up later in life. Your lungs also get better at oxygen absorption, decreasing the embarrassing wheezing display after having to walk the stairs when the elevator is out of order.
- No pain no gain isn't always true. Gung-ho spirit goes a long way, but there are cases where that toughness can create and aggravate problems. For example, shooting pain deep in the shoulder or near where a muscle ties into the bone should be a red flag. Listen to your body and let that muscle group rest for a week. You can always do a little extra cardio so it's not time wasted. However, if you persist and continue to hammer that budding injury week after week, you're bound to get into bigger problems before long. Then we might be talking months rather than weeks on the sidelines.
- Exercise affects your metabolism long after the workout is over. Plodding away at the treadmill usually gives you nice, exact readout of the number of calories burned. Lifting weights or jogging outdoors doesn't have the same precision, but check with any of the free calorie calculators online to get a good estimate for your age, gender, weight and exercise level.
- Working out makes you happier, confident and more well-balanced. It is a well-known fact that a hard workout can work wonders in getting frustration, anger and other negative feelings out of your system. It should also be mentioned that it's a great anti-depressant too, since exercise stimulates the release of endorphins. The harder you work out, the more of the body's own "happy drugs" are released into your bloodstream.
