We live in a time when playing sports is fashionable. Many people live with the need to run away from the pressure of hurry, from the stress caused by the haste of modern society. Be it for this, for the wish to be fit, or for the social beauty standards, there are ever more people practicing sports as a hobby. When it comes to exercise, such as with everything else, we are being influenced by a plethora of information and trends.
Maybe they are too many the stimuli that we receive so as to have a clear idea of what measure is considered healthy in sports. In the 1960s and 1970s, we had a moderate activity in connection to the world of farming and building which possessed a certain balance between action and rest, as well as between ingested and consumed calories. The boom of obesity was about to step in.
Now we are a service-oriented society with more office hours. We drive everywhere and have a lesser caloric expenditure, since we have reduced to the minimum climbing stairs and moving on foot which keeps up the basal metabolic rate.
In the near future there will predominate a tendency to obesity and sedentary lifestyle in which sports, if practiced, will be occasional or will take place once or twice a week; something bringing some benefits, yes, but also some harm to the musculoskeletal system. The lack of time and the cumulative stress make up a combination in which it is usual to seek fewer but more intense and hence exhausting sessions. We have followed all the trends coming from the USA and Europe and, in a lesser measure, from the East with its yoga and Tai Chi. We have also turned from a Mediterranean, home-made diet with seasonal products to eating at bars and restaurants and having a less healthy dinner based on precooked food full of preservatives and colour additives. It seems that this trend is slowing down due to a new current to eat “green and healthy”.
In this scenario, with historical child and adult obesity rates, with the chronicity of numerous diseases, with the excessive demand on health and social care services, and with the decline of good habits, it seems that we must return to our original cuisine, to a more natural way of eating.
As to physical exercise, there are numberless studies confirming the benefits of moderate sports activity for a great deal of diseases and in different health areas, having positive effects on various pathologies, such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity, anxiety, or depression. It also prevents some others like heart attack, cerebrovascular accidents, or respiratory insufficiency. In people of all ages, it keeps up motor coordination and muscle tone, corrects one’s posture preventing contractures and muscle strains, improves one’s life quality, and extends one’s lifetime as no medicine can ever do.
Sports activity requires constancy, commitment, and adequate performance which in themselves are a common obstacle for many. No one can do it for us. The key resides in taking health as a personal responsibility. Health must be cultivated in order to have a healthy life. We must stop putting off things and expecting that the health care system finally patches it all up when it is already too late.
We may need to ponder on our lifestyle if our symptoms and ailments are sending us a clear message that there is something that we must change. There is a reason why the Nordics are again a good reference, too, when it comes to sports. They are very foresighted and organised, and physical exercise is deeply rooted in their culture. They like to spend time in the nature, and this is why they have the following saying: “There is no bad weather but unfit clothes, instead!”.
Among the Eastern cultures, China outstands for treasuring health as one of its traditions and a part of their lifestyle. It is usual to see people of all ages doing Tai Chi and other kinds of gentle gymnastics on parks. They also do some stretching in a quite sensible manner. In Taoist philosophy, which has a deep influence in Chinese culture, the cultivation of health and longevity prevails as a supreme goal perpetuating many a practice and instruction concerning health.
In our time and social circle, it is fundamental to permanently cultivate longevity through our habits. Both, physical exercise and sports are decisive when it comes to adding years to our life and life to our years. But, how can we put this into practice?
There are as many countless sports as ways of practicing them; this is why, it is advisable to set certain guidelines in order to have things clear and proceed in a healthy way, such as follows:
- Progressive: start according to our physical condition and age.
- Never gruelling: follow what our feelings and common sense say. It is better to underdo at the beginning rather than overdoing to end demolished for days. If we reach exhaustion, we will be making our exercise session into a stress factor.
- Do “warm-up” at the start and a “return to rest” at the end. Assign some time to work on the joints, thus getting ligaments and tendons ready and, at the end, do stretching to normalize muscle tone and relax. In this way, we will avoid lesions.
- Full routine: choose the exercise that improves blood circulation, balance, and coordination.
- Avoid aggressive or high-impact sports, as exceeding weight-lifting.
- Schedule 3 to 4 weekly sessions (better little and frequent).
- Include core workout with Pilates, yoga, mountain and field trekking, some comprehensiveness and coordination exercise, such as Tai Chi or dance and team sports to establish social relations.
- Entertaining: try different sports and exercises until finding those we like best.
If we are more than 40, it is advisable to have a medical check-up and a stress test made to ascertain our physical condition. It is likewise advisable to request the assistance of a physiotherapist and a personal trainer to mentor us in our training programme.
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