Exercise – why and
how to?
A preventive health
measure
SRB
Unfortunately, there are some serious misconceptions
about how exercise helps. The most popular notion is that it is required to
reduce weight. This narrow vision hides the manifold
benefits of exercise on body and mind.
As a result of this wrong notion, many
persons who are either not interested in. reducing weight or have failed
to reduce weight by exercising, do not exercise and deprive themselves of the manifold
benefits of exercise. Sad to say, they
form a very large proportion of the population.
Why exercise?
A balanced diet ensures production of
blood of good quality which is required for maintaining good health. To be most
effective, this blood has to reach all parts of the
body and provide materials for proper cell growth and maintenance in
addition to ensuring immunity. This is best accomplished by balanced (i.e., well planned) exercises which together send blood to all parts of the
body. Brisk exercise makes the heart pump
blood with more power, increases force of blood circulation and sends adequate blood even into the minute parts of the circulatory
system all over the body. It makes
the heart healthier
and more sturdy. There are many other
benefits which include: maintaining a biological
rhythm which is of utmost importance, proper maintenance
of lungs and blood vessels through out the body, burning out extra sugar
in blood (which can cause harm), getting proper sleep and reducing weight. Balanced exercises prevent occurrence of many health
problems by supplying immunity producing white blood cells and
antioxidants to all parts of the body,
British Heart Foundation (BHF) has
emphasized on an important benefit from exercise as follows: “Mental and
physical health are not mutually exclusive. In deed, exercise is good for your
cognition, mood and physical health. You can improve your cognition and brain
health throughout your life through exercise and learning: both of which have
been shown to increase neurogenesis in the brain.” (Deccan Chronicle dated
19-02-13, page 10). Deepak Chopra, a well known professor of medicine and
author of many popular thought provoking books on health has been repeatedly emphasizing various benefits from a
proper mind-body relationship.
How to exercise?
It is also not realized that the manner of taking exercise is important. Some
people want to some how “finish off” exercises with out any interest or even “grumbling”
all the time. While this ensures faster than idle circulation of blood, it
causes subtle stresses which can be harmful over a long period. The best manner of taking exercises is to do these with a
smile and enjoy the movement of every body part, in a relaxed way. This
has a healthy influence on the mind and a perfect mind-body relationship, which is of utmost
importance, is maintained. To get best results, start exercises with a happy
smile and continue smiling till the end of the exercises. An additional benefit
is that smiling while exercising sends blood to many muscles which are used
only for smiling. And most important, the happy feeling resulting from exercising with a smile also
leads to one enjoying it and looking forward to exercising regularly, in stead of being indifferent about it.
If you diligently try this manner of exercising for about 10 days you will
enjoy the difference it makes.
It is better to count the number of
times each exercise is done. Then, attention of the
brain is drawn to three things at the same time – the body movements
during exercise, the counting and the smile. This results in subtle multi-tasking
of the brain regularly and helps to prevent deterioration of the brain over
time.
Some people take exercise only on
certain days of the week or intermittently i.e., not
every day. They ignore the need for adequate
supply of blood to all parts of the body every day and for ensuring that
the biological rhythm, which the body needs, is not upset. According to BHF,
“staying fit and active every day can dramatically reduce the risk of
developing diabetes, heart diseases, stroke, cancer and dementia.” (Deccan
Chronicle dated 19-02-13, page 11) If exercise is not
done every day, the benefits described above
and in the second and third paragraphs are not realized in full.
For any exercise which is done more
than 30 times or is vigorous, do it slowly during the first 5 times to
gradually tune up the muscles, then increase to make it brisk and then slow
down during the last 5 times for cooling down the muscles and nerves and to
avoid jerky stops. Always avoid sudden jerky movements to prevent sprain or
damage to muscles and nerves. This modification also adds to the subtle
multi-taxing of the brain described earlier.
Whenever one starts new exercises or
restarts exercises after a long interval, it is better to do each exercise only
for one-fourth of the desired duration. Otherwise, pain may occur in some parts
of the body on the next day or sprain can occur due to unaccustomed brisk
movements, resulting in blaming these on the exercise and stopping it. After 2
days, increase to half and then to three-fourths and then to full durations,
each after a gap of 2 days.
There are many types of exercise
schedules around the world which have their own advantages. To have balanced exercises and get
full benefit and completely achieve the aims of taking exercises
explained earlier, it may be necessary to adopt more than one schedule. For
instance, your favourite Yoga exercises may be good to maintain a proper mind-body relationship but may not
include adequate brisk exercises. To get better results add some brisk physical
exercises for at
least 30 minutes from any other exercise schedule or walking, or
cycling, or swimming. Similarly, supplement your favourite physical exercise
schedule with additional brisk exercise for at least 30 minutes (if not
included) and selected yoga exercises (particularly pranayama and shavasana) to
improve mind-body relationship which is of utmost
importance.
Lack of interest in exercises – a
preventive measure, long overdue
Sad to say, despite
such manifold advantages of balanced exercises which lead to sound
physical and mental health and which can “dramatically reduce the risk of
developing diabetes, heart diseases, stroke, cancer and dementia.”, the proportion of population
who carry out exercise every day is shockingly negligible. A survey
carried out by BHF has shown that “94% of those questioned did not deem
physical fitness as being of prime importance.” (Deccan Chronicle dated
19-02-13, page 11). It is a mater for serious consideration that diabetes, heart diseases, cancer and mental diseases are
serious health problems mainly because only a negligible number (about 6%) give importance to
physical fitness, which “dramatically reduces
the risk” of developing these diseases. By creating awareness of the manifold
benefits of balanced exercises, this proportion should
be lifted up to effectively control the major health
problems mentioned above. Balanced exercises
deserve to be taken up as a long over due preventive health measure.
It is well known that those who have
access to health care believe more in curative
care and relish the habit of taking
medicines after their breakfast, lunch etc. It is the same group that contributes more to the prevalence of the major health
problems mentioned by BHF and prefers,
without applying their mind, to get relief through
medicines rather than take exercises to
prevent the problem. Therefore, to make this preventive measure popular,
a change in mind set is essential.
Health education, which emphasizes that taking balanced exercises properly is an
enjoyable activity which gives many important benefits, should be
carried out in a mission mode. This should focus on all age groups,
particularly children and youth in order to make this preventive measure a regular
habit from young age itself.
For clarifications or comments or informing SRB about how you feel
after practicing balanced exercises, you can contact SRB at
srbharathi18@yahoo.in