The importance of lack of physical exercise

Physical exercises are essential to avoid having health consequences and lack of mobility in the joints.

Physical exercises are an important activity that everyone should include in their daily routine, as it will not only help to maintain a good physical and mental condition, but it will allow them to prevent many health complications such as cardiovascular problems, obesity, and diabetes. Do you want to know how the lack of exercise affects the body? Keep reading.

Table of Contents

• What are physical exercises?

• What can cause the lack of physical exercise?

• How is the lack of exercises manifested?

• Physical exercise in children

• Benefits of a good physical activity

• Types of physical exercises

• Recommendations according to age to perform any type of physical activity

• Physical exercises that you can do from home in this quarantine

What are physical exercises?

They are any activity that involves physical, voluntary, and conscious movements. Whose objective is not only to maintain good health, but also a better quality of life? They are activities that may or may not be planned and with a frequency chosen by each individual.

They can be done in many ways and anywhere, everything will depend on the disposition, time, and desire of the person who is going to do them.

Physical exercises can provide a better physical and mental state of any individual, which can help to:

• Prevent any health problems

• Reduce stress

• Increase self-esteem

• Reduce anxiety

• Improve the physical condition of the body and its circulation as well as improve or maintain the appearance of the body.

What can cause the lack of physical exercise?

Lack of exercise is considered a risk factor for the health of any person, causing the development of heart, muscular, respiratory diseases, and even obesity in most cases.

Nowadays, more and more people abandon the routine of doing physical exercises, either due to some health complications or due to laziness. But what they do not know are the causes that cause this in their body and health, so we will leave you 10 reasons for you to be very attentive:

• Elasticity in the body is lost

• Depression levels increase

• A sedentary lifestyle appears

• Alteration in blood pressure

• Loss of strength, agility, and flexibility in upper and lower extremities

• Increases fluid retention and cardiovascular problems

• Constant mood swings

• The appearance of cellulite and flaccidity on the body

• Weakness in muscles and joints, producing constant pain and even contractures

• The body consumes less oxygen, thus generating more carbon dioxide, reducing lung capacity and tissue degeneration

How is the lack of exercises manifested?

Physical inactivity triggers negative impacts on the human body, manifesting as follows:

• Weight gain

• Lack of muscle mass

• Arterial hypertension

• High cholesterol and triglycerides

• Insomnia

• Increase in anxiety levels

• Short of breath

• Constipation

• If you have presented any of them, it is time for you to start acting and activating your body

• A sedentary lifestyle and weight gain are consequences of the lack of physical exercises

Physical exercise in children

A sedentary lifestyle in children is an increasingly common problem that puts their physical and mental health at risk. Excess technology, such as cell phones, video game consoles, and computers, is one of the main reasons why children do not do outdoor activities.

In 1995 the World Health Organization classified obesity as a disease. At present, it is estimated that it has become an epidemic in both children and adults.

Overweight children do less physical activity by sitting all day, either studying or playing games on their console. Therefore, we leave you some tips to encourage physical exercise in the little ones:

• Finding an activity that they enjoy does not have to be a sport as such, if it is enough for them to ride a bike, dance, or play in the park, they will already be going a long way.
• Find something appropriate for your age, the motivation to exercise should be fun with your family or friends. Therefore, look for an activity that is according to their age to avoid abandonment.
• Limit the time with technological devices, whether it is watching television, playing a video game, or watching social networks. These time periods should be restricted and exchanged for activities such as walks, games, etc.
• Parents are role models, the greatest influence on children during the early years. So if they see that their parents lead a healthier lifestyle, exercising and eating well, they will follow suit.

Benefits of a good physical activity

When an individual decides to do any type of physical exercise and includes it in their daily routines in a moderate way, the body begins to produce physiological changes, among which are:

• Reduction of calories and fat

• Positive changes in blood pressure

• Drop-in triglyceride and cholesterol levels

• Decrease in insulin production, something that favors patients suffering from type 2 diabetes

• Regulation of appetite and the digestive system, which will favor the body in maintaining weight or depending on the case to reduce it, as long as it is accompanied by a balanced diet according to your body mass

• Control overweight

• It allows you to enjoy your sexual life to the fullest

Types of physical exercises

As we already know, there are many benefits that physical exercises have, but do you really know the different types of activities that you can do? If the answer is no, pay close attention!

Aerobic exercises

These exercises will help keep your heart, lungs, and joints healthy, which when combined with a good diet, can help you reach your ideal weight. They are easy to do and all are adapted to the needs of the person who is going to perform them. Meet some of them here:

• To walk
• To swim
• Ride a bike
• To run
• Practice soccer

The important thing is that you are recurrent and do them 30 minutes a day.

Resistance exercises

People who practice these types of exercises improve their posture and give their body a more toned appearance, reduce the risk of falls and improve their flexibility. In general, the natural strength of the body is used a lot, so it is important that you exercise the legs, shoulders, arms, abdomen, and back.

Flexibility exercises

To do these exercises, it is recommended to perform a warm-up routine, which will allow you to stretch the muscles of your body.

For flexibility exercises, Yoga, Pilates and Tai - chi is recommended, as they provide stretching and balancing movements with the combination of different positions

Exercises to strengthen bones

Jumping, running, weight lifting and some sports are some of the exercises that will help the person to strengthen their bones. Have you done any?

How to maintain a routine of physical exercises?

It is recommended to maintain a daily exercise routine for half an hour. In case, due to lack of time or health, it is important to consider a frequency of at least 3 times a week for a longer time, which will allow you to compensate for the days that you cannot do them. Depending on the routine that has been selected you can also activate some to be done from home.

If you are having a hard time maintaining your routine, here are three tips:

• If you got bored of always doing the same thing, change your activity and place

• Find a company to do exercises, will make the activity more enjoyable

• Do activities that are to your liking, vary the site and the practice

Recommendations according to age to perform any type of physical activity

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), anyone can perform exercises, segmenting them into three groups, among which are:

• Young people between 5 and 17 years old can do any type of games, sports, recreational activities for 1 hour a day.

Fun fact: WHO says that "more than 80% of the adolescent population of the world does not have a sufficient level of physical activity"

• Adults between 18 and 64 years old have a variety in their types of physical activity since they can do it from their housework, programmed exercises, or the practice of some sport or discipline. Everything will depend on the disposition of the person. With 150 minutes a week of dedication, it is more than enough.

• For adults over 65, the activities are smaller but just as effective. It consists of walks, games or housework. Oriental practices such as Tai-Chi are an ideal physical exercise for this age profile.

Age should not be considered a limitation, good health, physical and self-motivated condition is necessary to incorporate any type of physical exercise into your life.

Physical exercises that you can do from home in this quarantine

From the confinement measures due to complications of the Covid-19 contagion, people have been limited to going out to spaces such as gyms, parks, or swimming pools to perform their exercises, so they have been forced to adapt their routines or activities to do from home.

We will tell you which ones you can do and how you can enjoy these moments with your family.

Create a space and make it a fixed place for your daily activities, once this is defined, you can do the following:

Jump the rope: Use a rope and perform several repetitions of jumps for a few minutes, the time is up to you! In this way, you will be working your legs and toning your body.

Squats: Doing daily squats will allow you to increase the strength of your muscles and decrease body fat.

push-ups: For weighted push-ups, you can do it by carrying one of your children, partner, or anyone else you live with on a daily basis. In this way, you will not only be exercising, but you will have fun in a different way.

ABS: The abdominals will improve your posture and avoid the risk of having an injury, also it is an activity that does not require a lot of space.

Biceps: To work the biceps and shoulders from home, you can take a heavy object and perform the exercise as you normally do, bringing the benefit of strengthening your muscles.