We often hear people say how much we need to take charge and do more physical activities, but do we know exactly why? Besides answering that it is good for health, what are the more specific elements that lead us to believe that physical activity is good for individuals? For this column, I thought I would clarify and explain why physical activity is important for our health.

What do we mean by “physical activity.”

When we talk about doing physical activity, we talk about performing an activity that brings a certain intensity. This will be described using three intensity levels: light, medium or moderate, and finally high, intense, or vigorous. In a simple way, we can say that a light-intensity physical activity is generally one where the heart rate does not change or very little. On the other hand, moderate physical activity is accompanied by an increased heart rate demonstrated by mild shortness of breath, while vigorous physical activity makes it difficult for you to speak because of your shortness of breath.

It is also significant to note that it is your aerobic fitness that will decide the type of strength to consider. For example, if you are a person with average aerobic fitness, brisk walking will be moderate intensity, and jogging will be vigorous. On the other hand, if your aerobic capacity is weak, a brisk walk will then represent an activity of vigorous intensity.

What are the benefits of physical activity?

The various researches published on the subject are clear, to be healthy, an adult person must be active and make regular physical activity, and this, whatever their age. In this sense, tell yourself that doing a little is always better than not doing it at all. Doing physical activity provides many benefits that I will summarize here as a list:

• It helps maintain a healthy weight, which improves your quality of life.
• It strengthens your immune system
• It strengthens the heart and lungs
• It improves the general physical condition (aerobic capacity, endurance and muscular strength, flexibility, balance, posture, etc.)
• It helps to lose weight if combined with an adequate diet
• It improves bone density and reduces the risk of fractures
• It improves your confidence, your mood and allows you to see life in a more positive way
• It reduces the risk of falls in the elderly in addition to helping to maintain their health and independence
• It improves sleep and digestion
• It increases your life expectancy
• Helps prevent or reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety
• It preserves cognitive functions and memory

What exactly should we do?

The physical activity that you must practice must be varied if you want to maximize its effectiveness. You must integrate into your daily routine exercises related to aerobic capacity, muscle strengthening by soliciting larger muscle segments, and flexibility exercises. In this way, you touch on the most important elements in order to maintain an optimal state of health, especially if you combine everything with a healthy diet.

My parents tell me to turn off the TV to go for a bike ride; my friends offer football on Saturday afternoon… But why does everyone want to play sports? When you play sports, you get muscles, you become more resistant to efforts (the stairs seem lower), and you feel in better shape. Imagine that sport protects you against certain diseases such as diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular (heart) problems, and even back pain. And then, when we put our body in motion, our brain secretes endorphins, hormones that convey a feeling of pleasure and soothing! Doing sports, therefore, has positive effects on our morale! Finally, in adolescence, the body changes a lot and quickly, we do not always feel comfortable, we do not know very well what to do with our arms, we are clumsy. Sport can then be the means to become familiar with this new body.

Sport and others

We discover different people with whom we live moments of exchange and sharing. This also leads to participating in public sporting events (football match, ping pong tournament, etc.), having fun, and feeling part of a group outside of one’s usual references.

Besides, practicing a sport, especially in competition, also teaches you to manage rivalry with others, not to feel demolished when you lose and to find your place within a team.

Sport and me

After two laps of breaststroke in the pool, you feel cooler. It is that physical activities offer the possibility of spending yourself when you need to let off steam. We then do it in a certain context, where there are rules to follow, which forces us to control our emotions. For example, sport can also be an opportunity to learn to manage aggressiveness by expressing it in a channeled form as in combat sports.

Playing sports also allows you to surpass yourself and experience effort, which can be useful later. Participating and giving the best of yourself is already personal satisfaction. It is a challenge that we launch ourselves and tries to take up.

When you practice a sport regularly, you learn, you progress, you set new goals, and when you reach them, you can be happy with yourself, and you can also arouse the admiration of loved ones, friends, or parents.

Sport and mind

Doing sports allows you to work with your body, but do you know that the head also works ?! In any sport, there are rules of the game, which we remember and which push us to memorize, learn, and concentrate. Research with young people who regularly participate in physical activity shows that they are better able to concentrate, that they are more creative and that they are better at solving problems, like in mathematics, for example.

Physical exercises are, therefore, also beneficial for neurons! And good news, these mental capacities that we develop in sport can be used in everyday life, at school

In conclusion, whether you walk half an hour every day, whether you play football, badminton or horse riding, playing sports allows you to learn, to feel good about yourself, to feel pleasure and to build your thinking.