ESSENTIAL 5 : ENJOY ACTIVITY

Your body was created to move—and move often. Activity increases your circulation, speeding oxygen, nutrients and water to your cells. Your lymphatic system requires activity to purge your body of deadly toxins. Activity also triggers your brain to release health-giving hormones and enzymes, which lift your spirit while they bolster your immune system. A small investment in daily activity will enable you to reap tremendous health benefits.

Physiology

Physical activity, or movement, is really just a contraction of muscles. Your muscles can only actively contract and pull in one direction. They are arranged in opposing pairs that enable you to extend and flex. You have 650 skeletal muscles; these are the ones that you can control. Blood vessels and nerves feed all your muscles. The energy for muscle contraction comes from glycogen, which is stored in the muscles themselves. When this stored energy is required, the glycogen reacts with oxygen in the blood to metabolize its energy.

Activity strengthens the heart, lungs and circulatory system by increasing oxygen available to the body and enabling the heart to use oxygen more efficiently. Your lymphatic system, which has no “pump” of its own, propels its liquid through the movement of your muscles, enabling it to carry toxins away from your cells. Activity triggers your brain to release hormones—endorphins found in the brain influence blood supply to the muscles. Endorphin release increases during exercise, inhibiting pain and inducing a feeling of well-being.

Activity also increases the efficiency of the digestive system. The increase in blood flow caused by even moderate activity increases the rate at which nutrients are delivered to the cells, and wastes are processed through the digestive tract.

Symptoms of Imbalance

• Lack of energy and stamina
• Muscle weakness
• Bone loss
• Depression
• Poor digestion
• Heart disease
• Poor circulation
• Weight gain
• Poor cognitive function
• Lack of muscle tone
• Breathlessness

Health Threats

Short-term: The short-term impact of lack of activity on the body can be felt almost immediately. The decrease in oxygen to the cells leads to a noticeable lack of energy and stamina, and a decrease in lung capacity. Weight gain can occur rapidly during periods of inactivity, as can a decrease in muscle strength. Attitude and mood can also suffer due to inactivity.

Long-term: The long-term health threats of a lack of activity include a host of diseases that have been linked to a sedentary lifestyle, including heart disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke and osteoporosis. Poor circulation leads to a lack of oxygen and nutrients in the cells that compromises their ability to function adequately.

Poor circulation, both of the blood and the lymph fluids negatively impacts your body’s ability to shed wastes, leading to a lack of energy and, eventually, disease.



Points to Consider

• Strengthen your heart and cardiovascular system
• Reduce your heart disease risk factors, such as high blood pressure and being overweight
• Improve your circulation and help your body use oxygen better
• Improve your heart failure symptoms
• Build energy levels so you can do more activities without becoming tired or short of breath
• Increase endurance
• Lower blood pressure
• Improve muscle tone and strength
• Improve balance and joint flexibility
• Strengthen bones
• Help reduce body fat and help you reach a healthy weight
• Help reduce stress, tension, anxiety and depression
• Boost self-image and self-esteem
• Improve sleep
• Boost immune system
• Helps create a healthier appearance—toned, fit and healthier skin
• Expands arteries
• Increases lung capacity
• Prevents and reduces osteoporosis
• Increases cognitive function and memory
• Releases endorphins (“feel-good” chemicals in the brain)
• Exercise improves sexual performance and pleasure
• Speeds healing
• Decreases the risk of injury
• Essential for preserving bone mass
• Makes you feel more relaxed and rested
• Makes you look fit and feel healthy

Substantiation

A study published in the May/June 2002 issue of Psychosomatic Medicine evidences that health-promoting behaviors have long-term benefits, even when engaged in by adults over the age of 72. Those study participants who exercised the most generally reported fewer physical limitations and more positive emotions.

According to public health researchers, being overweight increases one’s risk of developing diabetes, gallstone, high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke. The study analyzed the Nurses Health Study for women and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study for men. The study found that even adults who are overweight, but not obese, with a BMI (Body Mass Index) between 25 and 29, were significantly more likely than their slender counterparts to develop chronic diseases.

Study findings reported in Women’s Health Issues in 2001 show that the more physically active a woman over 60 is, the higher her quality of life overall. Quality of life takes into account physical, emotional, social and environmental factors. The National Institute on Aging recommends that people participate in moderate exercise to strengthen the heart and lungs, potentially help lower blood pressure, help prevent against adult onset diabetes (also known as Type II diabetes), strengthen the bones and slow the progress of osteoporosis, reduce the risk of fractures, keep the joints, tendons and ligaments more flexible, and maintain a healthy weight, among other benefits.

Researchers at Ohio University published their findings in the Journal of Gerontology in 2001 that men aged 60-75 could improve their strength by 50-80% in four months without having ever previously participating in a weight training program. The participants also showed favorable changes in their cholesterol levels.

A study published in Age and Aging in 1999 shows that exercise combats the effects of aging. Researchers at San Diego State University enrolled 15 randomly-chosen men aged 33-56 in a study lasting 33 years. The study participants did some sort of aerobic exercise three to four times a week for an hour or more at 77-84% of their maximum heart rate. None of the men developed hypertension in comparison with the general population in the U.S., of which 60% of those 65-years old and older develop high blood pressure.