LATEST HEALTH BENEFITS OF FITNESS AND EXERCISE, WHAT TO EAT BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER. 2023
Exercise is a type of physical activity that improves or maintains overall health and wellness as well as physical fitness.
Fitness is the state of being physically, mentally, and spiritually sound so that you can achieve your full potential and that of others.
What Being Fit Really Means
There are five elements to physical fitness, according to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS):
1. Fitness for the heart and lungs. A common metric for this is your VO2 max. According to Abbie Smith-Ryan, PhD, professor and head of the Applied Physiology Laboratory at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, your body's capacity to absorb and use oxygen (which fuels all of your tissues) is directly tied to your health and quality of life.
2. muscle-skeletal fitness. This comprises physical prowess, stamina, and power.
3. Flexibility. Your joints' range of motion is shown here.
4. Balance. Your ability to stay upright and steady so that you don't fall is this.
5. Speed. You can move as swiftly as this.
The distinction between "physical activity" (physical movement that results in energy expenditure), "exercise" (planned and organised physical activity), and "physical fitness" was made in a widely used peer-reviewed research paper from 1985. Physical fitness was described in the study as a set of characteristics that people possess or attain that determine their capacity to complete daily tasks vigorously, alertly, and without undue exhaustion. According to that paper, components that can be used to gauge fitness include flexibility, body composition, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and cardiorespiratory endurance.
Types of Fitness
Fitness consists of a few key elements, each of which is crucial for creating a well-rounded training regimen. The ones highlighted by HHS as the elements that should be included in weekly exercise are listed below. They are all taken from the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. (It should be noted that several definitions of fitness also contain additional elements, such as physical endurance, power, speed, balance, and agility.
Workout That Is Aerobic (Cardiovascular)
Every fitness program starts with aerobic exercise, and for good reason. According to the American Heart Association, this form of exercise, often known as cardiovascular exercise or cardio, raises your heart rate and breathing rate while also enhancing your cardiorespiratory fitness.
According to the Physical Activity Guidelines, aerobic exercise includes activities like brisk walking, jogging, cycling, swimming, aerobic fitness classes (including kickboxing), tennis, dance, yard work, tennis, and jumping rope.
Strength Training
Strength training is a crucial component of improving mobility and general functioning, especially as you age. "Muscle mass declines with aging, which can significantly lower quality of life. Strength training protects the body from fractures and falls that can occur as people age, according to Robert Sallis, MD, a family medicine physician at Kaiser Permanente in Fontana, California, and the chairman of the Exercise Is Medicine initiative with the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).
Flexibility and Mobility
The International Sports Sciences Association claims that healthy activity requires both flexibility and mobility. These are not equivalent, though.
Mobility is the capacity of the body to move a joint through its full range of motion, whereas flexibility is the capacity of tendons, muscles, and ligaments to stretch.
Rest and Recovery
Your body can have time to repair the normal muscle damage that occurs after exercise by scheduling rest and recovery days. By its very nature, exercise strains the body's muscles. You become stronger by dealing with or recovering from such stress (and fitter). Yet for the body to fully recover from an exercise, you need to give it enough time to rest.
Recovery days can be completely physical activity-free or they can be active recovery days where you engage in low-impact, low-intensity exercises like walking or mild yoga. Dr. Sallis normally advises engaging in some form of exercise each day, such as a 10-minute walk outside.
HEALTH BENEFITS OF EXERCISE
Increased exercise significantly lowers the risk of chronic conditions like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and even cancer. The creator of the New York City-based mobility and movement company Movement Vault, Grayson Wickham, DPT, CSCS, asserts that fitness is the one factor that can assist avoid practically any kind of disease.
With the aim of integrating physical activity assessment into routine medical treatment and offering exercise resources to people of all abilities, ACSM and the American Medical Association joined forces to create the Exercise Is Medicine program in 2007. "The scientifically documented benefits of physical activity remain clear, and they can be as strong as any pharmacological agent in preventing and treating a range of chronic diseases and medical problems," the initiative's website states.
Workout Improves Mood
According to study, regular exercise has been demonstrated to be a protective factor against depression and anxiety. Also, according to a scientific study, numerous research have shown that exercise can help treat and manage the symptoms of depression. The researchers speculate that physical activity may create positive changes in the brain as well as lower inflammation, which has been proven to be elevated in depressed individuals.
Sleep Is Improved by Exercise
Regular exercise can improve your ability to sleep through the night. 29 out of the 34 research that made up the systematic review concluded that exercise increased the duration and quality of sleep. It could help regulate your circadian rhythm (so that you experience alertness and sleepiness at the proper times), induce chemical shifts in the brain that encourage sleep, and, as previous study suggests, reduce presleep worry that might otherwise keep you awake.
Fitness Encourages Long-Term Health
Exercise has been demonstrated to enhance bone and brain health, maintain muscle mass (preventing frailty as you age), improve gastrointestinal function, increase sexual function, and lower the risk of numerous diseases, including cancer and stroke. The risk of dying from any cause was reduced by 19% by engaging in the recommended 150 to 300 minutes of physical activity each week, according to research involving more than 116,000 participants.
Exercise Aids in Chronic Disease Management
Exercise supports the body's ability to manage various chronic health issues. Physical activity can be beneficial if you have osteoarthritis, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, dementia, or have had a stroke or cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Exercise can aid in reducing pain, enhancing insulin sensitivity and blood sugar control, promoting mobility, enhancing heart health, reducing the risk of various chronic diseases, and aiding in maintaining excellent mental health.
A walking regimen is typically a secure place to start if you have a chronic ailment and want to keep active or get more active. Unless your doctor has specifically instructed you not to exercise, the vast majority of individuals don't need a doctor's okay to start walking, according to Sallis.
He claims he hopes more people would view exercise as a baseline and advises: "You need to get authorization from your doctor not to exercise," he says.
Call your doctor, however, if you develop chest pain, get unusually breathless, or encounter any other unsettling symptoms.
WHAT TO EAT BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER EXERCISE
Exercise also benefits greatly from proper and healthy refueling of the body.
Before Exercise
Before working out Listen to your body's hunger cues if you exercise soon after waking up in the morning, advises Jackie Dikos, RDN, a sports dietitian in Westfield, Indiana, and the author of Finish Line Fueling. You might not need anything if your dinner the previous night was substantial or later. You could require a modest snack if you have an arduous workout coming up and are hungry.
During Exercise
When You're Working Out Mid-activity fuelling is not necessary for shorter workouts, but it is for longer endurance exercise sessions. The International Association of Sports Nutrition advises eating 30 to 60 grams of carbs every hour after the first 60 minutes of exercise. Sports beverages are one choice.
After Exercise
After a workout According to Dikos, a low- to moderate-intensity workout, like a 45-minute brisk walk, doesn't call for quick replenishing (especially if your next meal is close by). Your body will need food if you just finished a strenuous workout, if you know you have another intense session scheduled for that day, or if you have a challenging workout scheduled for the next day. Dikos advises consuming 10 to 20 grams of protein in addition to 0.5 grams of carbohydrates per pound of body weight.
Reference:
- My workout book 12 edition
- Fitness pal book