New Straits Times

Exercise for good health

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WHAT ARE THE

HEALTH BENEFITS OF EXERCISE?

Exercise or physical activity is body movement or muscle contractio­n that requires energy (in calorie).

Physical inactivity or low fitness is a strong determinan­t of chronic diseases.

There are a lot of health benefits in doing exercise. It is often said that exercise is a polypill, which means it treats a lot of ailments.

The main disease that exercise can prevent is heart disease. There are many other health conditions prevented by exercise. The main ones include obesity, hypertensi­on, type 2 diabetes, hyperchole­sterolemia, osteoporos­is, osteoarthr­itis, depression and some cancers.

A person needs to do regular physical activity in order to reap the health benefits of exercise.

The recommenda­tion is 150 minutes a week of moderate intensity exercise or 75 minutes per week of high intensity exercise, or a combinatio­n of both.

HOW MUCH EXERCISE DO I NEED EVERY DAY TO MAINTAIN GOOD HEALTH?

There are three types of recommende­d exercise to do - aerobic exercise, resistance exercise and flexibilit­y exercise.

Aerobic exercise includes brisk walking, running, cycling, swimming, rowing and hiking.

Usually this exercise involves major muscle groups in our body.

The recommenda­tion for aerobic exercise is a minimum of 150 minutes a week Choose any exercise that you can do anytime at home or at your workplace that does not require much equipment.

Resistance exercise is done to increase muscle strength and prevent the loss of muscle mass. You can use dumbbells, barbells or strength machines to increase muscle strength.

WHAT TYPES OF EXERCISES ARE RECOMMENDE­D TO MAINTAIN HEALTH?

Choose exercises that are easy and do not require a lot of technical skill nor much equipment.

The exercise you choose must be rhythmic and involve large muscle groups (lower and upper limbs).

A good example is brisk walking. Spread the exercise over a week. Do not accumulate the exercise only on weekends.

Start with a small duration over weeks or months and slowly increase duration and frequency according to your capability.

The minimum amount of time is 10 minutes per session.

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