A National Health Survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2009, made estimates on a comprehensive range of health factors governing the health of the US population.
Estimates were made for various widespread chronic illnesses, also mental health, functional limitations, general health , access to health care and lifestyle.
One aspect looked at was physical activity in leisure time. The survey showed that:
- 33 percent of adults were “inactive”
- 35 percent of adults participate in leisure-time physical activity regularly
- More than half of adults over 18 never participated in any leisure time physical activity lasting 10 minutes or more per week
- 28 percent of adults participated in periods of high energy leisure time physical activity for a duration of more than 10 minutes or more, three times per week or more
- More men were involved in leisure-time physical activity on a regular basis than women.
- In a 2010 study published by the American Cancer Society, women that spent six hours a day sitting increased their risk of death by 37 percent compared to those who spent less than three hours a day sitting.
- Those that exercise less are more likely to suffer from depression, as they have less of the feel good hormone (Serotonin) and endorphins that exercise increases . Exercise is the path to feeling better and not the prescription drugs with all the adverse side-effects that your doctor keeps pushing on you, so that he/she can get a significant commission check.
- A study featured in Clinical Cardiology indicated that morbidly obese individuals – those with a BMI between 40 and 49.9 – average spent slightly more than 23 hours and 50 minutes per day either sleeping or engaged in sedentary activities, and took less than 2500 steps per day, which is well below the recommended 10,000 steps a healthy life. Needless to say that obesity is linked to five of the 10 diseases with the highest mortality: cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension and stroke.
- Obesity and physical inactivity go hand in hand, and cause your body to be less sensitive to glucose-lowering effects of insulin. As a result of insulin resistance there are higher levels of blood sugar, which can lead to glucose intolerance, a precursor to the current surge in Type 2 diabetes. There are also a number of other serious diseases that have increased as a result of the increase in obesity, such as stroke, cancer, heart disease,and hypertension.
- Combat depression
- Lose weight
- Fight Arthritis
- Lower blood pressure
- Reduce your risk of heart disease
- Lower your risk of Type 2 diabetes and reverse pre-diabetes
- Reduce the risk of cancer
- Boost immune system
- Improve sleep
- Anti- aging
- Current fitness level/ health
- Weight loss goals
- Fitness goals
- Health issues
- What you enjoy
- Poolside vacations
- Long term goals, for example; skiing vacation, climbing Mount Baldy or Kilimanjaro
- High Intensity Interval Training
- Cardiovascular Exercise
- Resistance Training
- Stretching
According to the report
“Regarding vigorous leisure-time physical activity, 50 percent of men never engaged in periods of vigorous leisure-time physical activity lasting 10 minutes or more per week compared with 60 percent of women. Thirty-one percent of men engaged in such activities three or more times per week compared with 25 percent of women.”
The Reasons Why Exercise Is Your Key To Health
The statistic that more than half of Americans do not engage in any exercise activities, is the one of the greatest single reasons to our current epidemic of obesity, strokes, Type 2 diabetes, and many others chronic conditions. The reason why fewer women than men are active in general, is that men play more group sports with colleagues and friends. Women also often carry the responsibilities that go with nursing and caring for the daily needs of young children.
Whatever your reasons, regardless of gender, there is a growing amount of research that shows that lack of exercise impacts your physical and mental health , and potentially shortens your life.
For example:
The benefits of regular exercise are as follows:
Why Does Exercise Have Such A Significant Impact?
Exercise aids your body in the utilization of insulin (blood sugar), and increases it’s effectiveness to receptors. This factor is one of the most significant ways in which exercise helps to prevent many of the present chronic diseases.
Exercise also helps maintain lean muscle mass, therefore fending off Sarcopenia (muscle catabolism) as people age. It also boosts growth hormone (GH), the mother of all hormones that is singularly by far the most important one to slow down aging.
Exercise helps you stay younger at a cellular level, by maintaining the length of telomeres- the DNA on either end of thread-like chromosomes. They can be compared to the plastic tip at the end of a shoe lace which stops the lace from fraying, telomeres protect the chromosomes that carry genes during cell division. As each time when cells divide, the telomeres get shorter, until the point that they eventually become too short to divide and become obsolete. To put it in a nutshell the longer your cells last, the more you will offset aging.
How To Get Into Exercise
The biggest scapegoat people use for not engaging in exercise is… “i don’t have time”! If The President has the time you do too! It is a matter of balancing your life so that you can plan exercise time around your life, and not your life around exercise. If you change the way that you do things, the things you do will change. Set some time aside either before work, getting up a bit earlier on days you exercise, say (3) times per week to start, or plan some time right after work before you go home and settle down for the evening, as if you settle down before it will be harder to get going.
When you start to see exercise as a health requirement rather than a “luxury”, you will find the time for it, rather than look upon it as an unpleasant chore. The key is finding balance within your life to work, rest and play.
List The Things That Will Inspire You
What purpose is there to a life with no purpose can be analogized as , what purpose is there to exercise with no purpose? Well if you connect to any of the above you have just found your purpose. Regardless of your present age, weight , fitness level there is no better time to start exercising than today, and start working to a better quality of life.
Start Out Slowly But Surely
If you are just getting back into exercise, you will need to work your way back into it slowly. Attempting to do too much all at once will lead to burnout and makes you less likely to continue your program. For starters, you could try walking at a steady pace, then add periods of brisk walking, or jogging. Then, as your body grows more conditioned, you can upgrade to higher intensity training. A sound, well balanced routine often includes the following types of exercises:
If you have emotional resistance, you may want to buy a copy of MIND SET TO FITNESS available on Amazon.com by Google searching under that title.
Even without too much discipline you will want to exercise as you will feel so good that it will become a must do, like watching your favorite game on a Sunday, or having your favorite coffee drink or meal.
-NicholasIf you are in the Los Angeles area and you would like a complimentary one-on-one assessment with Personal Trainer in L.A. Nicholas Barrett, please don't hesitate to get in touch! Personal trainer Los Angeles. Los Angeles personal trainer. Personal trainer marina del rey.
