During the month of May, the Office on Disease Prevention and Health Promotion celebrates National Physical Fitness and Sports Month to raise awareness about the benefits of physical activity. 

Physical Fitness is a measure of the body’s ability to function efficiently and effectively in work and leisure activities, resist hypokinetic diseases (diseases from sedentary lifestyles), and to meet emergency situations. Sometimes added to this definition is the ability to transmit genes to the next generation.

Physical activity is any body movement that works your muscles and requires more energy than resting. Walking, running, dancing, swimming, yoga, and gardening are a few examples of physical activity.

​

Exercise provides many benefits and supports your health.

Some benefits are immediate, like improved mood, sleep, insulin sensitivity, and blood pressure. Other benefits are noticeable after a few months, like increased muscle mass, strength, flexibility, and lung capacity.

Further, numerous studies have found that being physically fit protects against many diseases and health issues including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, depression, dementia, and certain types of cancer, just to name a few. Being physically active can also support healthy aging and increase how many healthy, active years you have. For example, strength training into late adulthood can help preserve lean muscle mass, which is a major predictor of falls and quality of life. Ultimately, living an active lifestyle no matter your age is important for supporting good overall health.

 

The many benefits of being physically active reduces risk of chronic disease, improved mental health, and a better quality of life. The five health-related components of physical fitness can be a useful guide to help you achieve physical fitness and promote good health. They describe five areas to focus on in your fitness journey to ensure a well-rounded, active lifestyle.

The five areas of health-related fitness are:

• Cardiovascular endurance: the ability to perform exercises at moderate-to-vigorous intensities for a prolonged period of time.

• Muscular strength: how much force your muscles can exert or how heavy weights they can lift.

• Muscular endurance: the ability of your muscles to sustain exercise for a period of time.

• Flexibility: the ability to move muscles and joints through a full range of motion.

• Body composition: your body’s ratio of fat mass to fat-free mass like muscle and bone

 

Weight Management:

Both eating patterns and physical activity routines play a critical role in weight management. You gain weight when you consume more calories through eating and drinking than the amount of calories you burn, including those burned during physical activity.

To maintain your weight: Work your way up to 150 minutes a week of moderate physical activity, which could include dancing or yard work. You could achieve the goal of 150 minutes a week with 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week.

People vary greatly in how much physical activity they need for weight management. You may need to be more active than others to reach or maintain a healthy weight.

To lose weight and keep it off: You will need a high amount of physical activity unless you also adjust your eating patterns and reduces the amount of calories you’re eating and drinking. Getting to and staying at a healthy weight requires both regular physical activity and healthy eating.

​

Vigorous physical activity creates a variety of beneficial health effects in the body. These include:

• reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, dementia and Alzheimer’s, cancers, and some pregnancy complications

• better sleep

• improvements in cognition

• less weight gain, lower obesity rates, and less chance of related health conditions

• better bone health

• improved balance

• fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety

• better quality of life and overall sense of well-being

​

Benefits of exercise for all ages have been known since antiquity. Marcus Cicero, around 65 BC, stated: “It is exercise alone that supports the spirits, and keeps the mind in vigor.” Again, regular exercise has been shown to help high blood pressure, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and depression, among others.

 

Let's go and burn some calroies!

​

References:

What Are the 5 Health-Related Components of Physical Fitness? (healthline.com)

Benefits of Physical Activity | Physical Activity | CDC