HEALTH and EXERCISE: THE REAL SCORE

Good health isn’t the result of coincidence or having good genes. Neither does it mean the absence of disease---although you may settle for that---it means fitness and vigor.

According to the US President’s Council on Physical Fitness, physical fitness “is a measure of the body’s strength, stamina and flexibility.”

In more meaningful personal terms, it is a reflection of your ability to work with vigor and pleasure, without undue fatigue, with energy left for enjoying hobbies and recreational activities, and for meeting unforeseen emergencies. Because the body is not a compartment separate from the mind, it relates to how you feel mentally and physically.

A basic element of fitness is physical activity. Without movement, the body deteriorates.

Whether you are fat or lean, daily exercise is vitally important to your health. Some doctors consider it the most important single factor for survival.

The simple act of walking, for example, brings more oxygen to the lungs. And oxygen is the energizing fuel for the nutrients to invigorate and sustain the body. Without it, life ceases within minutes. Life and death occur on the cellular level: the chemical reactions which take place in individual cells depend upon oxygen for combustion.

Metabolism is the sum total of all the processes related to the building up, and tearing down, of the cells incidental to life. Proper fuel and oxygen need to be circulated to reach the billions of cells that make up the various glands, organs, blood and lymph of the body.

At rest, all the blood in the body completes the circuit in one minute, but as many as five times during exercise. Oxygenation and waste removal all depend upon movement, activity, or exercise. It is these processes that allow cells to live and function; that permit the brain to think and reason; the memory to be quick and alert; and the elimination of wastes to be consistent and regular.

To achieve real fitness, treat yourself to brisk walking, aerobics, cycling, swimming and other sustained exercises. When walking, the pace must be brisk and continued for an hour daily, although some authorities would put a minimum of half an hour as acceptable.

A daily brisk walking (or jogging, if you are strong enough to withstand the heavy pounding brought upon your knees!) will eventually lower the pulse rate at rest by 10 points or more. This lowered pulse rate can save 10,000 extra heartbeats a day (equivalent to the heart having rested two to three hours daily).

Let’s give your heart a break: put on your walking shoes---and walk.