Benefits of Physical Activity Health 1

Mental and Social Benefits Exercise has a positive effect on your mental, physical and emotional health Stress Relief Mood Enhancement Better Sleep Improved Self-Esteem

Stress Relief and Mood Enhancement It bumps up your endorphins. Physical activity helps to bump up the production of your brain's feel-good neurotransmitters, called endorphins. Although this function is often referred to as a runner's high, a rousing game of tennis or a nature hike also can contribute to this same feeling. It's meditation in motion. After a fast- paced game of racquetball or several laps in the pool, you'll often find that you've forgotten the day's irritations and concentrated only on your body's movements.

Stress Relief and Mood Enhancement As you begin to regularly shed your daily tensions through movement and physical activity, you may find that this focus on a single task, and the resulting energy and optimism, can help you remain calm and clear in everything that you do. It improves your mood. Regular exercise can increase self-confidence and lower the symptoms associated with mild depression and anxiety. Exercise also can improve your sleep, which is often disrupted by stress, depression and anxiety. All this can ease your stress levels and give you a sense of command over your body and your life.

Sleep and Exercise Morning exercise can relieve stress and improve mood. These effects can indirectly improve sleep, no doubt. To get a more direct sleep-promoting benefit from morning exercise, however, you can couple it with exposure to outdoor light. Being exposed to natural light in the morning, whether you're exercising or not, can improve your sleep at night by reinforcing your body's sleep-wake cycle.

Sleep and Exercise When it comes to having a direct effect on getting a good night's sleep, it's vigorous exercise in the late afternoon or early evening that appears most beneficial. That's because it raises your body temperature above normal a few hours before bed, allowing it to start falling just as you're getting ready for bed. This decrease in body temperature appears to be a trigger that helps ease you into sleep.

Risks of Being Inactive Despite all of the benefits teens still choose to be sedentary –Sedentary: involving little physical activity Many health problems can occur from being sedentary: –Unhealthy weight gain and obesity –Cardiovascular disease, such as heart attack and stroke –Type 2 diabetes

Risks of Being Inactive –Asthma and other breathing problems –Osteoporosis: condition where bones become porous and fragile –Osteoarthritis: caused by a breakdown of cartilage and bone in the joints –Psychological problems such as stress, anxiety and depression –Premature death Teens should aim for 60 minutes a day of physical activity

Weight Control Because exercise helps use oxygen, it causes your body to burn stored fat and helps you maintain a normal weight. For instance, if you walk four miles a day, four times a week, you can burn about 1,600 calories, or nearly half a pound a week. If you don't change your diet at all and keep walking the same distance over six months, you'll lose 12 pounds. Walk the same distance for a year and you'll drop 24 pounds! webmd.com

Stronger Muscles Most people know that exercise keeps muscles strong. But did you know that strong muscles burn more calories? Muscle mass is a metabolically active tissue. In other words, the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn even when you're not working out. Studies estimate that for each pound of muscle you add to your body, you will burn an additional calories per day. So an extra five pounds of muscle will burn about calories a day, or an extra pound of fat every days. Because men have more muscle mass, they burn calories faster and lose weight more easily than girls. So girls need to work out daily to stay strong and in shape. webmd.com

Better Skin Exercise also boosts circulation and the delivery of nutrients to your skin, helping to detoxify the body by removing toxins or poisons. As exercise boosts oxygen to the skin, it also helps increase the natural production of collagen, the connective tissue that plumps your skin. Your skin color is also improved after exercise because of the increase in blood flow.

Getting Started As you make the daily exercise commitment, be sure to include the following three types of exercise: Range-of-motion, or stretching exercises –These involve moving a limb as far as it will go without pain. You can do this with basic stretches or through dance, yoga, tai chi, and similar activities. Endurance or conditioning exercises –Endurance exercises include walking, cycling, climbing stairs, aerobics and swimming. These exercises strengthen muscles and build coordination and endurance. Strengthening exercises –Resistance exercises help build strong muscles. You can do them with ankle and wrist weights, free weights, resistance machines, resistance bands, or free weights (handheld weights).

Target Heart Rate Target Heart Rate: The ideal range of aerobic activity. Target Heart Rate To figure out your heart rate during exercise, take your pulse for six seconds and multiply by 10.

Stages of the Workout Warm-Up: prepares the muscles Workout: F.I.T.T –F: Frequency (at least 3 per week) –I: Intensity (push hard, don’t overload) –T: Type (Vary your activity) –T: Time (Keep heart rate within target range for 20 minutes) Cool Down: allows heart rate to slow and body temperature to cool Hydrate