Exercise important for any life-style

Press, 3 May 1984, Page 17

Exercise important for any life-style

Besides a range of nutritious foods in the right amounts, sufficient suitable exercise is essential for keeping both healthy and fit. One definition of fitness, from the U.S. President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sport, is: “Having the ability to carry out daily tasks with vigour and alertness, without undue fatigue, and with ample energy to enjoy leisure pursuits and meet unforeseen emergencies.”

In other words, by this definition, fitness means being able to cope comfortably with one’s own lifestyle.

The activities chosen to achieve this level of physical and mental efficiency may also have creattive, intellectual, social or emotional benefits.

In any case, exercise should be pleasant, once the basic skills involved have been mastered.

For one thing, people are far more likely to carry on with an activity, and do it regularly, if they enjoy it. For another, when doing something they like, they will more easily relax into the movemments, which are then more beneficial.

Different people suit dif-

ferent forms of exercise, depending on build, temperament and present level of fitness.

According to Dr P.-O. Astrand, a professor at the Stockholm University of Physical Education, it is the amount of movement that is important in exercise, not the strain.

“The average person can exercise very nicely and healthfully without strenuous, muscle-bulging, exhausting routines ... Exercise with the least strain, but that which uses the most muscles, is the best exercise.”

Gentle movement, slower and less forceful than that involved in most competitive sports, allows gradual improvement of fitness without dangerous strain. It also helps to dispel — not compound — such ailments as pain in the back, neck, shoulders or joints.

Gentle exercise is also more suitable for those suffering from mental stress. Tension is widely recognised as a major problem affecting physical and emotional health. To counter it, people are encouraged to exercise and practise relaxation. The choice of more re-

laxed forms of exercise helps to reduce tension as well as improve fitness. It even helps dislodge the habit of doing things with undue force or speed. As a result, the lives of people under mental pressure can become less tiring and stressful. Little and often is the ideal. Aim to have some exercise every day, with much of it built into the daily routine: a 10-minute walk to the shops, doing the vacuuming, or taking the stairs instead of the lift. These all count.

Variety is important, too, to ensure all muscles get some exercise, and to avoid any possibility of boredom. For total well-being, let exercise complement work or other necessary activities.

For example, a person in a stressful, mentally demanding job may enjoy a bicycle ride at moderate speed, or a solitary walk.

A housewife on her own much of the time may well enjoy sociable activities, such as netball or bowling. An athletic-type person in a sedentary, boring job would be likely to enjoy an energetic and intellectually

demanding form of exercise, such as fencing or Scottish country dancing. Any exercise is good if it suits the person’s needs, and he — or she — enjoys it. When getting going on exercise after a period of inactivity, a sensible rule of thumb is: slow down if you feel strain, stop if you feel pain, but aim to do a little more each time.