To move
The positive effects of exercise on health are undisputed.
It is known that exercise ensures, among other things:
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Rejuvenation of muscle and connective tissue
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Reduction of stress
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Less cardiovascular disease
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Better blood circulation
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Inhibition of inflammation
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Boosting your mood
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Improve memory
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Reduced risk of tumors
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Reduction of low-grade inflammation
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Better intestinal function
In other words, a great medicine, and free too! You can do all kinds of things for your health, but the effect will be limited if you do not exercise and exercise enough. That's the core!
"Exercise is the closest thing you can get to an anti-aging pill," says Dr. Leaf from Harvard Medical School. Eighty percent of health problems once associated with aging are now thought to be prevented or postponed if a person stays fit.
Keep moving:
Try to do some exercise for 20 minutes every day and cycle or walk for at least 30 minutes. But just as important: 'liven up your whole day with short bursts of movement'. When a team of researchers assigned a group of students to exercise and monitored their mood the next day, they made a surprising discovery. After just 20 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise, the students were in a much better mood compared to a control group of students who did not exercise.
Try to perform the exercises in the videos for 3x 20 sec or 3x 30 sec or 3x 45 sec. Choose the version that you can handle; push-ups can be done on the floor, on the knees, on a chair or against the wall (from difficult to easy).
“Physical fitness is the body's ability to meet the normal demands of everyday life - work and recreation - with ease and with sufficient capacity and with sufficient margin to cope adequately with emergency situations.” (Altug and Miller, 1990)
"Swim more often and you will feel on land like a fish in the water." (Unknown)
"If you move like a child with variety, intensity and fun, your connective tissue will become younger, if you move like an old woman or man, your connective tissue will age" (EvdW)
Fascia, dance by李可华
Use all the exercise options your body offers you
Practical tips and links:
You don't have to go to a gym to stay super fit.
You don't have to do a full workout right away, start with everything nice and small, a few repetitions, not too heavy. And surprise yourself by occasionally pushing the limits of your possibilities.
Brighten up your day with the short physical challenges below!
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Put on your favorite music at home and dance for at least 5 minutes every day, just according to your own feeling. The rhythmic movement provides an extra pumping effect in the body. Extra: smile.
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Make sure your heart rate rises at least 5 times a day by running up a flight of stairs, doing 20 knee bends or lifting something heavy several times. Simply contracting all your muscles at the same time 30 times in a row without moving can have a good effect. Nowadays there are nice 'pedometers' that also register the heart rate.
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Move like a child; spread over the entire day with lots of fun and variety. Your muscle and connective tissue will really become 'younger' and more flexible. And if you move like an old man or woman, your body will age faster. Our body is always developing and we have a major influence on the direction in which it changes.
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And when you sit: wiggle a lot. People who wobble a lot have 43% less chance of all kinds of diseases and conditions!
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In the supermarket, lift your shopping basket instead of pulling it behind you on wheels. Take the stairs instead of the elevator (more than 200% energy increase!)
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Additional benefit: sweating ensures that harmful heavy metals (e.g. mercury, lead, cadmium) are removed from your body (rinse well!)
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20 minutes of intense exercise improves your energy level and mood for 12 hours. So if you start it in the morning, you will have more fun than if you do it just before going to sleep.
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When you clean, do so with a swing in your movements. (Just like Freddy Mercury in 'I want to break free'😉).
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Put on'home fitness'; make all your daily activities more intensive in a playful way (operate the light switch with your foot, brush your teeth standing on one leg, etc. etc.). Don't try to make it as easy as possible for yourself, but look for a challenge. And jump! Jump as often as possible!
