Brian Almand
The Benefits of Healthy and Active Living
When society stresses to partake in something so much, a lot of the times it is
because it will be beneficial and enjoyable to your life. Daily exercise is one of those
things that society stresses to do. It is as easy as walking for 30 minutes a day, 5
times week (Landro). Exercise is not only a physically beneficial but also mentally
as well. Exercise has been a huge part of my life. I exercise at least 6 times a week
and feel nothing but benefits from it. I am currently at a healthy enough to do any
physical exercise. By going out and getting active you can control your weight,
combat health conditions and diseases, and boost your everyday energy.
The main reason people work out is to control their weight. There have been
many studies on how much a person should exercise per week in order to control
their weight within 5 pounds of when they start. In 2008 there was a study don’t by
the Harvard School of Public Health that says it is recommended to get at least 2-1/2
hours per week of moderate intensity aerobic activity to stay at a steady rate (1
Harvard School of Public Health). Following that recommendation the Women’s
Health Study did an experiment with 34,000 middle aged women for 13 years to see
what it took to stay within 5 pounds of their starting weight. After that study, it
showed that women need to exercise about an hour a day to maintain their current
weight when they started. If you are looking to lose weight then about 30 minutes a
day will suffice, but only if eating carefully is taken into consideration (1 Harvard
School of Public Health).
Exercise helps control your weight by burning excess calories from you body.
Everything that you et throughout the day will put calories into your body. These
excess calories will be stored in your body as fat. Everything you do throughout the
day though will burn these calories, weather it is sleeping, breathing, or digesting
food (Johnson 2012). When you exercise more calories will be burned from your
body reducing your weight as well as boosting your metabolism and lowering your
insulin levels (Johnson 2012). Boosting metabolism is done by exercise which will
increase your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). This is the rate at which you burn
calories while your body is at a complete rest. Your BMR accounts for about 65% of
the total calories that you burn throughout the day (Benefits to Exercise 2008).
Basic exercise can only help when trying to maintain or lose a certain weight that
you are at through the calorie burning and metabolism boosting.
Not only does exercise just help control your weight but it is shown that you
can prevent certain types of diseases just through daily exercise. Warding off
diseases does no matter how old you are or the amount of exercise that you do (1
Lovett). The leading death in America right now is cardiovascular disease. The
American Heart Association stated that the leading cause of this heart disease is not
partaking in physical activity. Daily exercise strengthens your heart muscle, lowers
blood pressure, increases good cholesterol and decreases bad cholesterol, and
makes the blood in your body flow a lot better that without exercise (Zelman 2004).
All of theses benefits will reduce the risk of having a stroke, heart disease, or high
blood pressure.
As well as heart disease, Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia can be
prevented through daily exercise. There are currently 5.5 million Americans that
suffer from dementia (Elliot 2013). A study done by the Cooper Institute in Texas
between 1971 and 2009 showed that 20,000 adults in their 40s and 50s were 36%
less likely to develop dementia after the age of 65 if they partook in daily exercise
from those who didn’t (Elliot 2013). Not only can exercise decrease the likeliness of
getting dementia it can help the people with dementia cope with their disease with a
little bit of exercise (Hughes 2011). A group of four men living with dementia in a
residential home were gently put through stations of exercise by Peter Black who is
a staff worker at the residential home. All four of theses men had become
aggravated and confused throughout their time living with dementia. After these
exercise sessions from Black all four of theses men had become not only more calm
in their daily living but also the daily medication uses have decreases juristically
(Hughes 2011). A little bit of exercise can go a long way when dealing with either
coping with a disease or trying to prevent it.
Many of the people who fail to workout use the excuse of feeling to tired to go
put on shoes to go for a run or to workout. That is a very bad excuse because
exercise happens to increase your energy and fight fatigue (McCall). The University
of Georgia did a study that was in the 2008 issue of Swiss Medical Journal
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic, which involved 36 healthy people. Theses 36
people all had complaints about feeling fatigued. They went through a 6-week
exercise program that involved moderate and low intensity groups. Both groups
said they experienced a 20% increase in energy levels and 65% drop in feelings of
fatigue. Even though it seems that when you engage in physical exercise that you
will use up all of your energy and become tired, exercise actually helps create and
release that energy for a much more active day (Ireland 2011).
I have had much experience with dealing with exercise being a collegiate
student athlete. Whenever my team and I exercise I can say from the first hand
experience that I feel energized and ready to go for the whole day. Whenever my
team has off days where I don’t exercise I can say that the energy I usual have is just
not there. This energy comes from the enhanced blood flow that is carrying oxygen
and nutrients to muscle tissue therefore improving the body’s ability to produce
energy (McCall). This natural way of creating energy is from having more
Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) in your system. The more exercise you do the more
ATP that is released and the higher levels of energy that you will have (Quinn 2008).
So far in my life I have experience great success with my health, weight, and
energy. Anybody can get out and be active to help turn their lifestyle around. It
doesn’t take much to be active either. Just a short walk after work is all that it takes.
So many beneficial things exercise can do to the human body from controlling your
weight, warding off bad diseases, and also boosting your energy throughout the day.
Days when I am the most tired and fatigued are the days I’m not out exercising. I
just feel more and more tired when I just rest all day.
The great thing about exercise is that anybody from any age, gender, or
health can benefit from being active. Even when you have a disease like dementia
exercise can help you cope with what you are going through not only physically but
also mentally. You feel so much more alert and better off throughout your day. It is
a healthy lifestyle that so many people in society stress for the sole reason that it is
the most beneficial natural thing you can do for your body.
Works Cited
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Elliot, Bill. "Dr. Bill Elliott: Exercise May Help Brain Ward off Dementia." MarinIJ.com. N.p.,
11 Feb. 2013. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.
"Harvard School of Public Health » The Nutrition Source » Exercise and Weight Control."
The Nutrition Source. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.
Hughes, Dominic. "How Exercise Is Helping People Living with Dementia." BBC News. BBC,
13 Apr. 2011. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.
Johnson, Kimball. "Exercise and Weight Loss." WebMD. WebMD, 28 Jan. 0000. Web. 17 Feb.
2013.
Lovett, Kate. "Exercise and Disease Prevention." Untitled. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.
Mayo Clinic Staff. "Exercise: 7 Benefits of Regular Physical Activity." Fitness. N.p., 23 July
2011. Web. 15 Feb. 2013.
Zelman, MPH, RD/LD, Kathleen. "Benefits of Exercise: Control Your Weight, Prevent Disease,
Improve Your Health on MedicineNet.com." MedicineNet. N.p., 27 Jan. 2004. Web. 17
Feb. 2013.
"Exercise As a Cure for Fatigue and To Boost Energy Levels." ACE Fitness. N.p., n.d.
Web. 17 Feb. 2013.
Ireland, Jae. "The Effects on Exercise on Energy Levels." LIVESTRONG.COM. N.p., 7
June 2011. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.
Quinn, Elizabeth. "Energy Pathways for Exercise - How Carbohydrate, Fat and Protein
Fuels Exercise." About.com Sports Medicine. N.p., 25 Jan. 2008. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.