An active lifestyle depends on a person’s position in life; in other words, a person must have fortitude. After all, if you don’t have the desire and, most importantly, the strength to invent, do, and overcome obstacles, then there will be no result. You can also say with the proverb “water does not flow under a lying stone.” Moreover, it is one thing to dream and express a desire, and another thing to gather strength and take concrete steps. Those who take concrete steps lead an active lifestyle.
A physically active lifestyle is very important from childhood, in youth, when people still consider themselves healthy, in adulthood and old age. It is needed so that the body functions normally, with proper nutrition, absorbs nutrients well and high-quality gas exchange with oxygen occurs in the required quantity. The more a person leads an active life, the less he gets sick.
Count the number of steps taken
This trick can keep track of the distances covered and will be a great motivation to walk more. After all, a certain number of steps will help you always stay in shape and teach you to replace walking short distances by transport.
WHO recommends taking at least 10,000 steps or 7-9 kilometers per day. However, it is recommended to start with 2000 steps and gradually increase this number.
In the modern world, there are gadgets for counting steps taken, or you can download a special application on your smartphone.
Physical activity for children and young people
For children and young and middle-aged people who do not have any serious health problems, intense or moderate physical activity must be:
- daily, lasting at least an hour;
- Exercises in the gym and exercises in the fresh air, in nature, are useful, and they can be done at any time of the year;
- training should be fun, so you need to choose classes that suit your liking and capabilities.
What benefits do such activities give to children and young people?
- Physically active people have better memory, reactions, attention and even logic than those people who spend most of their day passively.
- Physical activity at a young age contributes to the formation of a healthy cardiovascular system, proper skeletal formation, development of the muscular system, and maintenance of normal and healthy body weight.
- A healthy reaction of the nervous system and proper coordination of movements are also formed.
- Physical exercise and fitness helps to resist stress, which is enough in our lives, and therefore to be more mentally stable and socially adapted. A good and cheerful mood always helps to achieve success in life and bring more benefit to yourself and others.
The habit of being physically active from childhood and youth remains for life. This results in a healthier and more active generation of people who will remain physically active, cheerful and healthy into older age.
Think how much we can extend our lives and improve our quality of life simply through proper exercise!
Morning work-out
15 minutes of simple exercises every morning will not take time, and the effect will be amazing. Exercising to your favorite music will give you energy for the whole day.
Meditation can be an alternative or complement. Practices allow you to tune in to the coming day, clear your thoughts and relax your body. All this is simply necessary in the crazy schedule of big cities.
Basic Rules
As mentioned above, the most important thing in an active lifestyle is to enjoy it. Any activity should bring joy, otherwise stress and fatigue will not only not disappear from life, but will also increase significantly. Therefore, the load must be chosen correctly; there is no point in overstraining the body. It is also important to learn to alternate between activity and rest. Healthy sleep is an integral part of a healthy life.
Before you start changing your lifestyle, you need to have a clear picture of your health. This requires a complete review of your medical history and consultation with a qualified specialist. The presence of some chronic diseases can significantly adjust plans for sports, tourism and other outdoor activities.
The next step is to carefully consider your diet. You should exclude from the menu foods that do not benefit the body and saturate it with vitamins. An important aspect of a healthy diet is regularly drinking clean, still water. This not only improves digestion, but helps the body better tolerate physical activity. The fact is that during sports the body consumes a large amount of fluid. If you do not replenish water supplies in time, muscles lose elasticity and wear out.
Rejection of bad habits
The most difficult, but necessary point for everyone who wants to start leading an active lifestyle.
Smoking, computer addiction and overeating do not make life better, but only plunge you deeper into the whirlpool of gray everyday life.
Completing all ten points is guaranteed to give you strength and energy, and will also allow you to start leading an active lifestyle.
Healthy lifestyle
The problems of modern society lead to a significant deterioration in a person’s physical and emotional state. This is why it is so important to lead a healthy lifestyle. A healthy lifestyle includes several interrelated elements:
- Rejection of bad habits. Such habits include alcohol abuse, smoking, and drug use.
- Proper distribution of rest and physical activity.
- Healthy sleep. It should be complete and regular and allow both body and mind to rest.
- Control of emotional state. It is important to try to avoid stress and try to saturate your life with positive emotions.
- Proper nutrition. Eating healthy foods strengthens the immune system, helps control weight, and improves physical well-being.
- Personal hygiene. “Cleanliness is the key to health,” the proverb says quite rightly.
- Social aspect. It represents human behavior in society, the acquisition of communication skills.
Compliance with the above principles is aimed at improving health and can increase a person’s life span.
Travel
Give up the stereotype that traveling is expensive and go on a trip this weekend. Choose the distance and type of transport depending on your budget and taking into account the crowd of people. Don't forget that the coronavirus pandemic has not gone away and you need to be careful.
Be sure to try to explore new places at least once a month. You will be surprised when you find out how many colorful landscapes there are only in your region, not to mention Ukraine as a whole. Such a vacation will not only have a positive effect on your health and inspire you to an active lifestyle, but will also help you regain your strength.
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Movement towards health: leading an active lifestyle
Leading an active lifestyle is not only good for your figure, but also necessary for your health. Physical inactivity is a much more serious problem for modern people than it seems at first glance. In this article we will talk about how physical activity is important for our health.
The human body is initially programmed for high physical activity. Primitive people were forced to run a lot and undergo other types of physical activity in order to survive. Much has changed in our lives since those distant times, but the genetic program of our body has remained the same.
How are we inferior to our ancestors?
The ingenuity of scientists and the development of technology have freed us from the need to travel huge distances every day, because once upon a time, even in order to simply share news, people had to walk a lot. It would seem that our life has become much simpler and more comfortable, but the advent of transport has had a negative impact on our health. Think about how far you travel in a day? And compare it with the norm, which is seven to eight kilometers a day - this is necessary to maintain health. A sedentary lifestyle cannot be healthy in any way, and no medicine replaces movement, while movement can relieve a person from the need to take medications.
We consider ourselves and our contemporaries better than our ancestors. Of course, they did not have such an abundance of vehicles, information technology, etc. - in this sense we are much more developed, but in terms of physical activity, energy and endurance we are very much behind. Few people care about this now, but this issue is really worth your attention.
Why does the body need movement?
Physical activity is not only a waste, but also an accumulation of energy. Movement stimulates catabolic processes in the body. To function fully, our body must be constantly in motion, and this fact simply cannot be ignored. Even for a young person who has no bad habits and whose diet is perfectly balanced, physical activity is a necessary condition for maintaining health.
For normal functioning of the human body, continuous circulation of nutrients, hormones and oxygen is necessary. When a person leads a sedentary lifestyle, the circulation of these substances is disrupted, metabolism is weakened, and the removal of toxins from the body slows down. Stagnation begins, and some cells cease to be subject to general control. These processes lead to diseases of the internal organs.
How to disperse melancholy?
The importance of physical activity is confirmed by the fact that it affects not only our body, but also our psyche and state of mind. There are situations when a person is completely depressed and confused, in this state he sits within four walls and goes crazy with hopelessness. Going outside and taking a walk is a great way to relieve boredom. Try doing a few physical exercises - you will immediately feel a surge of energy!
Of course, if you haven’t exercised for a long time, or are overweight, not everything will be so rosy, but this does not change the general patterns. It often happens that when a person is in a difficult life situation, going through a period of crisis, it is enough for a person to adjust his diet, adjust his sleep pattern, or run in the morning to get out of the trap. Therefore, physical training can improve not only your figure and health, but your life as a whole, and change your attitude.
Let's start small
Changing your lifestyle is not so difficult, start small: do not use elevators, walk to work, do a set of physical exercises instead of (or even while) watching a TV series. Once you start, over time, morning jogging will not seem like something impossible, and you will have a desire to move more. And when you see that you have managed to achieve results in physical improvement, you will gain self-confidence and the strength to bring to life what you had not dared to do before. Health is the harmony of the physical and mental; improving the body will necessarily entail the desire to improve the soul.
Constant search
As soon as a person stops learning and developing, his brain cells, as well as the neurons of the nervous system, begin to die off as unnecessary. There are very convincing studies that prove that if a person continues to work after retirement, he maintains mental clarity well into old age. If he “slides” into everyday life, watching TV and working in the garden, signs of dementia may appear by the age of 60-70. Of course, you don’t have to work until you die, but after retirement, who’s stopping you from taking computer literacy courses, learning English via Skype (“I’ve been dreaming all my life, but I didn’t have time”) and going to London?
To maintain and develop brain activity, a person constantly needs new information, knowledge, skills, abilities, and for the development of spiritual and intellectual it is important not to stop learning and discovering new things throughout his life. Self-education is an important part of the life of an active person.
Take advantage of every opportunity
If you decide to lead an active lifestyle, use every opportunity for this: walk and move more, walk up the stairs, don’t be lazy to cook healthy meals. If you are active in such little things, you will get used to a healthy lifestyle much faster and over time, what seemed too tiring will become easy and fun entertainment.
Read also:
TOP 8 effective exercises for correct posture
The editors' opinion may not coincide with the opinion of the author of the article.
