BUILD YOUR PORTFOLIO THROUGH EXERCISE

BUILD YOUR PORTFOLIO THROUGH EXERCISE

DR. Titto Cherian

tittocherian@gmail.com

Faculty in Physical Education, Patriarch Ignatius Zakka-I Training College, Malecruz

Abstract

Chronic diseases are major killers in the modern era. Lack of physical inactivity is a primary cause of most chronic diseases. Physical inactivity is detrimental to health and normal organ functional capacities. More over exercise is examined as primary prevention against more than 35 chronic conditions such as metabolic syndrome, obesity, type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, coronary heart disease, peripheral artery disease, hypertension, stroke, congestive heart failure, endothelial dysfunction, arterial dyslipidaemia, deep vein thrombosis, cognitive dysfunction, depression and anxiety, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, balance, bone fracture/falls, rheumatoid arthritis, colon cancer, breast cancer, gestational diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome, constipation, and gallbladder diseases. In summary, the body rapidly mal adapts to insufficient physical activity, and if continued, results in substantial decreases in both total and quality years of life. Taken together, conclusive evidence exists that physical inactivity is one important cause of most chronic diseases. In addition, physical activity prevents, or delays aging, chronic diseases.

Key words: Metabolic syndrome, peripheral artery disease , arterial dyslipidaemia , polycystic ovary syndrome

Introduction

 “There is no single drug that can give the same overall benefit to health that physical activity does. Everything that gets worse as we grow older gets better with exercise.”         

            Lifestyle factors such as physical inactivity are heavily correlated with the development of chronic disease. If you have a chronic condition, regular exercise can help you manage symptoms and improve your health. Aerobic exercise can help to improve your heart health and endurance and aid in weight loss. Strength training can improve muscle strength and endurance, make it easier to do daily activities, slow disease-related declines in muscle strength, and provide stability to joints. Flexibility exercises may help you to have optimal range of motion about your joints, so they can function best, and stability exercises may help reduce the risk of falls..As more individuals live longer, it is imperative to determine the extent and mechanisms by which exercise and physical activity can improve health, functional capacity, quality of life.

            “We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” George Bernard Shaw

When we stop engaging our bodies in physical activities, it causes all these measures of fitness to decline - a process known as de-conditioning or detraining. And the fitter you are, the faster you tend to lose the benefits of exercise, even if your baseline fitness remains better than average. The first to go is VO2 max, and before you know it, muscle strength, stamina, and coordination follow. You can also expect a rise in blood sugar levels, and even blood pressure. Skipping the gym one day isn't likely to have much effect on you, but abruptly halting your regular exercise routine can hurt both your body and your mind. If you've been sidelined by a medical condition or injury, talk to your doctor about ways you can stay fit without getting hurt.

            Researchers found that 60 to 75 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per day were sufficient to eliminate the increased risk of early death associated with sitting for over eight hours per day. High levels of moderate intensity physical activity seem to eliminate the increased risk of death associated with high sitting time. These results provide further evidence on the benefits of physical activity. Sixty to 75 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per day might sound unachievable for some people, but it's important to remember that "moderate intensity" exercise can easily be performed outside a gym or away from a track. Researchers designated moderate exercise as moving on foot at 3.5 miles per hour, which for most healthy people is simply a brisk walk. Walking or biking to a destination instead of driving or taking public transportation is a great way to increase the amount of moderate exercise you perform each day while simultaneously cutting down on your daily amount of sitting.

            Hypo-kinetic diseases are those illnesses that result from a sedentary lifestyle. A more common term used to describe these types of illnesses are chronic diseases. These sicknesses include obesity, hypertension, type II diabetes, osteoporosis, and many others. Another branch of diseases caused by physical inactivity are known as cardiovascular diseases. These include coronary heart disease, heart attacks, atherosclerosis, strokes, and congestive heart failure. Sicknesses like these have affected the mortality rate in our country. It is also important to note that there negative effects that come from exercising. These consequences are injuries from overtraining, accidents and other external variables, high-impact exercises, and not exercising properly.

            There are strong correlations between exercise and active lifestyles and ones health, in particular ones cardiac health.  Because cardiac health can be a major concern with poor health it is a good point of study within this discussion.  First of all, there is a opposite correlation that is very strong between ones activity level and long term cardiovascular and all-cause mortalities.  A high level of physical fitness is also associated with favorable cardiovascular risk factors. High levels of physical activity can be associated with numerous other positive effects on ones physical well-being along with cardiovascular system.  Fitness can improve everything from ones respiratory system to once flexibility and athletic abilities to improved immune system to blood pressure being lowered. All of these positives are direct affects of one’s fitness level and it is easy to see how all these factors can be influenced.

            When the choice to exercise is up to you, try cutting back on workouts rather than cutting them out altogether. Aging is a complex process involving many variables (e.g., genetics, lifestyle factors, chronic diseases) that interact with one another, greatly influencing the manner in which we age. Participation in regular physical activity (both aerobic and strength exercises) elicits a number of favorable responses that contribute to healthy aging. Much has been learned recently regarding the adaptability of various biological systems, as well as the ways that regular exercise can influence them.

            Participation in a regular exercise program is an effective intervention/modality to reduce  a number of functional declines associated with aging. Further, the trainability of older individuals is evidenced by their ability to adapt and respond to both endurance and strength training. Endurance training can help maintain and improve various aspects of cardiovascular function (as measured by maximal V̇O2, cardiac output, and arteriovenous O2 difference), as well as enhance sub-maximal performance.

Here are a few of the most important health benefits of regular exercise:

*Increases heart and lung fitness and stamina

*Protects against heart disease, stroke and diabetes

*Helps to create a favourable energy balance and normalises weight

*Builds muscle, strength and flexibility

*Enhances glucose metabolism and improves insulin function

*Helps to maintain or enhance bone density

*Improves immune function and reduces inflammation

*Protects against some cancers

*Improves mood and helps ward off depressive states

**Control your weight

*Reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease

*Reduce your risk for type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome

*Reduce your risk of some cancers

*Strengthen your bones and muscles

*Improve your mental health and mood

*Improve your ability to do daily activities and prevent falls, if you're an older adult

*Increase your chances of living longer

Conclusion

            Physical inactivity is a cause of chronic disease in children and adolescents. Documented health benefits by prevention of physical inactivity in children and adolescents include increased physical fitness, reduced body fatness, favorable cardiovascular and metabolic disease risk profiles, enhanced bone health, and reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety. Physical activity, food, and reproduction are some of the minimal requirements for life. They evolved not as choices, but as requirements for individual and species survival. Modern humans have been able to design most physical activity out of daily life. Humans now have a choice not to be physically active. Scientific evidence largely ignored and priorities as low, exists for physical inactivity as a primary and actual cause of most chronic diseases. Thus, longer-term health was also engineered out with the successful removal of physical activity as a necessity for immediate survival. The comprehensive evidence herein clearly establishes that lack of physical activity affects almost every cell, organ, and system in the body causing sedentary dysfunction and accelerated death.

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