Saturday, June 25, 2011

How important is Exercise

Often we hear about the benefits of exercise, but rarely do you hear about the consequences of lack of exercise to your body.  Exercise effects every part and aspect of our bodies whether it positive or negative.  It effects us from our bones, our muscles, to our organs and exterior.  Bone and muscle are living tissue that respond to exercise by becoming stronger. Young women and men who exercise regularly almost           always achieve greater peak bone mass than those who do not.  For most of us, our bone mass peaks sometime in our 30's.  As time goes on, we of course lose bone and muscle mass.  Exercising allows us to maintain muscle strength, coordination, and balance, which in turn helps to prevent falls and related fractures.
Benefits to exercise
Regular exercise is necessary for physical fitness and good health. It reduces the risk of heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes and other diseases. It can improve your appearance and delay the aging process and help you stay looking and feeling much younger throughout life. It also is proven that exercise improved mental health as well.  What more do you need  to know than that?  Still not convinced? No worries, I'll continue.
In exercise, your body uses energy to keep going. When sitting around or being inactive you are putting you body and health at serious risk.  Your muscles will become flabby and weak. Your heart and lungs won't function efficiently. And your joints will be stiff and easily injured. Doesn't sound like something I am interested in how about you?  You can lead a more active life with better mobility and flexibility. It's a proven fact. On top of that, exercise is a great factor in the healing and recovery process from injuries and illness. Once you begin to exercise regularly, you will discover many more reasons why exercise is so important to improving the quality of your life.

Some things to keep in mind
Exercising with weights and other forms of resistance training develops your muscles, bones and ligaments for increased strength and endurance. Your posture can be improved, and your muscles become more firm and toned. Resistance training exercises build lean muscle. Building lean muscle will speed up your metabolism, allowing you to burn more calories. The more muscle you build, the more calories you'll burn. The more calories you burn, the more body fat you'll lose. Exercise will improve the function of your heart and lungs. Stronger lungs can more efficiently deliver oxygen to the body during times of need, while a more powerful heart delivers precious blood to muscles and organs. Exercise will keep your body weight in a healthy range. In a closing note, remember that stretching and flexibility play huge roles in basic and extreme exercise.  Always, keep in mind that your body is fragile in it's own right and try not to push it too hard or you could not only backtrack process, but put yourself in more danger than good.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Health is serious folks

Seems like every time we turn the corner, in this day in age, that the main concern in life is almost anything but health.  I mean real health not the average check-ups at your doctor office, or the vitamins you take daily, not the water filter you add to your faucet, or the millions of medications you can get prescribed to you these days.  It's not any of these things.  Health is a over-all body necessity!  Mind, body, and soul type deal.  The things you eat, drink, inhale, touch, and in anyway come in contact with contribute to your health. 
The first step to achieving total body health is to get the right mindset. Until you are ready to commit to yourself and the rest of your life then it's very easy to start to slip back into old "unhealthy" habits.  I have recently found there is a lot of power in writing down your goals and holding yourself accountable.  If you can daily visually see your goals you will be more likely to pursue them. Start with one main thing that you want/need to do to start your steps towards a healthier fuller life.  Perhaps you want to start jogging, or eating less processed foods, maybe you want to try smiling more during the day.  Smiling is proven to release " good energy" into the body which makes it easier to again reach those goals we just talked about setting.  It doesn't matter what it is just pick something.  You have to start somewhere to go anywhere.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Health Definitions


Here are some definitions of some words that will appear on this site often.  Read them. Know them. Practice them.

Fitness (noun)
 1. The state or condition of being fit; suitability or appropriateness.
 2. Good health or physical condition, especially as the result of exercise and proper nutrition.

Wellness (noun)
 1. The condition of good physical and mental health

Health (noun)
 1. The overall condition of an organism at a given time
 2. Soundness, especially of body or mind; freedom from disease or abnormality.
Exercise (noun)
 1. Activity that requires physical or mental exertion, especially when performed to develop or maintain fitness
 2. An activity having a specified aspect
Body (noun)
The entire material or physical structure of an organism. The physical part of a person.
 2. The largest or principal part of an organ
Beauty (noun)
  1. A quality or feature that is most effective, gratifying, or telling
  2. The quality that gives pleasure to the mind or senses and is associated with such properties as harmony of form or color, excellence of artistry, truthfulness, and originality.
Determination (noun)
 1. Firmness of purpose; resolve
 2. The act of making or arriving at a decision
 3. A fixed movement or tendency toward an object or end.
Diet (noun)
 1. The usual food and drink of a person
 2. A regulated selection of foods, as for medical reasons or cosmetic weight loss
Toning (verb)
 1. To make firmer or stronger.
 2. The normal state of elastic tension or partial contraction in resting muscles
Workout (noun)
 1. A session of exercise or practice to improve fitness
 2. A strenuous test of ability and endurance.
Adrenaline (noun)
 1. a hormone that is secreted by the adrenal medulla in response to stress and increases heart rate, pulse rate, and blood pressure, and raises the blood levels of glucose and lipids
Aerobics (noun)
 1. A system of physical conditioning designed to enhance circulatory and respiratory efficiency that involves vigorous sustained exercise
 2. A program of physical fitness that involves such exercise.
Heart Rate (noun)
 1. The number of heartbeats per unit of time, usually expressed as beats per minute
Pulse (noun)
 1. The rhythmical throbbing of arteries produced by the regular contractions of the heart
Firming (verb)
 1. To make or become firm
 2. Marked by or indicating the tone and resiliency of healthy tissue