Benefits of Physical Fitness

From LoveToKnow Exercise

We've all heard that exercise is good for the body, but when you take a look at the benefits of physical fitness, you'll see that the advantages go beyond the physical.

Activity Levels Have Dropped

Reasons for inactivity aren't hard to figure out. Many jobs require people to sit most of the day, and convenience and time-saving devices rob us of all kinds of opportunities to live active, fit lives. We no longer have to make a trek to the grocery each day for fresh food, because refrigerators and freezers allow us to stock more food than ever. Believe it or not, people used to walk to and from the store almost daily.

Things have changed in the last 50 years and it shows in the overall health of the country. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, in the 1960s families in the U.S. owned 1.5 cars. That's an average. More than 21 percent didn't own a car and only 19 percent had two cars. By 2000, families without a car were just over nine percent, while families with two cars were over 38 percent. That means we ride more and walk less. Today, we also depend on modern, labor-saving devices like the washer and dryer to save us time. No more carrying the basket of wet clothes to the back yard to hang on the line. That was a natural upper body workout that required bending and stretching, but now we save time instead.

Our lack of activity isn't just limited to changes in our chores or work. A recent study by the National Center for Health on Exercise/Physical Activity points to the fact that in 2006, 31 percent of adults engaged in regular leisure-time physical activity, while almost 40 percent did not. So if your job is inactive, and your leisure time is inactive, you will not enjoy the benefits of physical fitness.

Add Activity to Your Day

Along with regular exercise, it's important to be active throughout the day. In other words, if you really want to be fit, you won't just go out for a daily walk and return to the office or back home, cross exercise off your list and sit like a lump the rest of the day. Our bodies are designed to move. It doesn't have to be in large chunks of time either. Look for opportunities to be active.

If you're trying to shed unwanted pounds, staying active can help with that, too. Studies suggest that regular activity helps keep the metabolic rate high even when you cut calories, which makes it easier to continue losing weight.

Here are a few ideas of how to add activity into your day, if you have a job that requires sitting most of the time:

Take the stairs: This is good exercise for your quadriceps and rear, a good workout for your heart, and it's low impact. You can even make a point to use a restroom on another floor for an excuse to take the stairs. Be creative.
Walk around for exercise while you are on the phone. If you spend a lot of time on the phone, this can add up. You might even wear a pedometer to count your steps and measure the distance covered for the day.
Stand rather than sit when possible, because standing burns more calories.
Go for a short walk during lunch or on a fitness break. It's much healthier than hanging around the break room and vending machines.

Health Benefits of Physical Fitness

Along with regular activity, making cardio exercise part of your life offers a number of health advantages, especially for heart health. Exercise strengthens the heart, which in turn makes it more efficient. Not only that, but even moderate exercise has proven to raise HDL (good cholesterol). Other benefits of physical fitness include:

Aids the circulatory system
Fat loss
Helps regulate your appetite
Increased flexibility
Lowers blood pressure
Lowers blood fats
Strengthened muscles
Stronger bones

If this news sounds like the same ol' same ol' to you, but it hasn't helped you to get up and start moving, consider the American Heart Associations latest findings. They attribute about 250,000 deaths a year in the United States alone to a lack of regular physical activity. That's 12 percent of the total deaths in this country.

Wouldn't you rather be a statistic for the physically fit? If the above benefits aren't enough to motivate you, consider the mental health benefits attributed to physical fitness: