Exercise in Health and Disease

Exercise in Health and Disease

A world famous physical educationist, Eugene Sandow, has very aptly said, “ Life is movement,

stagnation is death. “ Physical exercise is essential for the maintenance of normal condition of

life. Lack of natural exercise is one of the chief causes of weakness and ill-health.

In recent years, the need for exercise has been recognised even in sickness. Physio and

occupational therapy are now standard procedures in medicine to restore the use of muscles

and nerves that have been injured by disease or by accident. Patients with organic ailments are

now advised to stay in bed for the minimum period considered necessary.

Exercise and Activity

For corrective living, it is essential to differentiate between exercise and activity. While both are

important as they are involved in vital physical movement, they vary in degree and benefits.

Both employ the body in voluntary movement. Activity uses the body to a limited degree and

generally to achieve a specific purpose. Exercise employs the body over the widest possible

range of movement for the particular purpose of maintaining or acquiring muscle tone and

control with maximum joint flexibility.

Activity requires less physical effort and often less conscious effort once the routine has been

established. Exercise demands considerable physical effort and is more beneficial as mental

concentration is simultaneously employed.

Benefits

Systematic physical exercise has many benefits. The more important benefits are mentioned

below :

Regular exercise taken properly can achieve the increased use of food by the body,

which contributes to health and fitness. The basal metabolic rate and habitual body

temperature will slowly rise during several weeks of physical exercise, if the programme is

not too hard. The healthy person usually has abundant body heat and a warm radiant

glow.

i.

Regular progressive physical exercise can bring about the balance of automatic, or

involuntary , nervous system. The tone of the vagus nerve, one of the nerves that control

sensation and motion, is strengthened. This accounts for stronger pulse waves, higher

metabolism and better circulation.

ii.

Exercise can prevent or reduce gravitational ptosis or sag, as it is commonly called.

Ptosis results from uneven flow of blood in the feet, legs and lower abdomen.

iii.

Improved capillary action in the working of muscular and brain tissue results from

exercise carried to the point of real endurance. This permits greater blood flow and gives

the muscles, including the heart, more resistance to fatigue.

Massage, heat and moderate exercise are relatively ineffective in producing additional

capillary action as compared with vigorous exercise.

iv.

The full use of the lungs in vigorous exercise can reduce or prevent lung congestion due

to lymph accumulation.

v.

Gas and intra-intestinal accumulations can be reduced by exercise that acts to knead and

squeeze or vibrate the intraintestinal mass.

vi.

Better respiratory reserve is developed by persistent exercise. This ensures better breath

holding, especially after a standard exercise. With greater respiratory reserves, exercise

become easier.

vii.

viii.    Improvement in tone and function of veins can be accomplished by repetitiously

Exercise in Health and Disease

squeezing and draining the blood out of them and then allowing them to fill.

ix.      Sweating in exercise aids kidneys by helping to eliminate the waste matter from the body.

Consistent exercise leads to improvement in quality of blood. Studies have shown

improved haemoglobin levels, relatively greater alkalinity, improved total protein content

and a grater red cell count.

x.

Systemic exercise promotes physical strength and mental vigour and strengthens will power and

self control leading to harmonious development of the whole system.

 

Exercise promotes longevity

Medical researchers at Harvard and Standford Universitieswho studied the habits and health of

17,000 middle-aged and older men, reported the first scientific evidence that even modest

exercise helps prolong life. Dr. Ralph S. Paffenberger, the visiting professor of epidemology at

the Harvard School of Pubic Health, who is the principal author of the report said, “ We have

found a direct relationship between the level of physical activity and the length of life in the

college men we have studied. “ He added,” This is the first good evidence that people who are

active and fit have a longer life span than those who are not. “

A strong connection between a hard and a healthy hard has also been convincingly

demonstrated in the same study. The study showed that the less active persons ran a three

times higher risk of suffering a fatal heart attack than did those who worked the hardest. Review

of fatal heart attacks revealed that the less active men were also three times more likely to die

unexpectedly and rapidly within an hour after the attack.

A parallel research report from doctors in Dulles also concluded, after a study of the lives and

habits of 6,000 men and women, that the physically fit were less likely to develop hypertension.

Dr. Steven N. Blair who headed the research group said, “ We followed the physical health and

habits of these people for an average of four-and-a-half years and the data showed that the

lackof physical fitness leads to hypertension. “

Exercise increases calorie output. The body fat can be reduced by regular exercise. It is

therefore, useful for weight reduction in conjunction with restricted food intake. According to a

study by Dr. Peter Wood of Stanford University Medical School, author of ‘ California Diet and

Exercise Programme ‘, very active people eat about 600 more calories daily than their sedentary

counterparts but weight about 20 per cent less. Upto 15 hours after vigorous exercise, the body

continues to burn calories at a higher rate than it would have without exercise. Moderate

physical exercise has been found to be accompanied by less obesity and lower cholesterol

levels.

Regular exercise plays an important role in the fight against stress. It provides recreation and

mental relaxation besides keeping the body physically and mentally fit. It is nature’s best

tranquilliser.

Chronic fatigue caused by poor circulation can be remedied by undertaking some exercise on a

daily basis. It helps relieve tension and induces sleep. Moderate physical exercise at the end of

a try day can bring a degree of freshness and renewed energy.

Exercise also plays an important role in the treatment of depression. According to Dr. Robert

Brown, a clinical associate professor at the University of Virgina School of Medicine, “ Exercise

produces chemical and psychological changes that improves your mental health. It changes the

levels of hormones in blood and may elevate your beta-endorphins (mood-affecting brain

chemicals). Exercise also gives a feeling of accomplishment and thereby reduces the sense of

helplessness. “

 

 

Methods of Exercise

Several systems of exercise have been developed over the years, the most popular among them

being the Swedish system and yoga asanas, the later having been practised from ancient times

in India. Whichever system you choose to adopt, the exercises should be performed

systematically, regularly and under proper guidance.

To be really useful, exercise should be taken in such a manner as to bring into action all the

muscles of the body in a natural way. Walking is one such exercise. It is, however, so gentle in

character that one must walk several kilometers in a brisk manner to constitute a fair amount of

Exercise in Health and Disease

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exercise. Other forms of good exercise are swimming, cycling, horse-riding, tennis, etc.

Precautions

Vigirous exercise of any kind should not be taken for an hour and a half after eating, nor

cancer,

heart trouble, tuberculosis and asthama should not undertake vigious exercise except under the

supervision of a competent physician. If exercising makes you tired, stop immediately . The

purpose of exercise should be to make you feel refreshed and relaxed and not tired.

The most important rule about the fitness plan is to start with very light exercise and to increase

the effort in gradual and easy stages. The sense of well-being will begin almost immediately.

One can start off with a brisk walk for 15 to 20 minutes. A comfortable sense of tiredness should

be the aim. It is valueless and possibly harmful to become exhausted or seriously short of

breath. Perhaps, one should aim at activities which need about two-thirds of one’s maximum

ability. One way to assess is to count your own pulse rate.

Counting of pulse is quite easy. Feel the pulse on your left wrist with the middle three fingers of

your right hand. Press just firmly enough to feel the beat easily. Now count the number of beats

in 15 seconds, with the help of a watch with clear second hand and calculate your rate by

multiplying by four. At rest heart beats 70 to 80 times a minute. This rate increases during

exercise. Really vigorous can produce rates as high as 200 beats per minute or more.

Reasonable aim is to exercise at about two-thirds of maximum capacity. It follows that heart rate

should be about 130 per minute during and just after exercise. Always avoid over-exertion and

never allow your pulse go above 190 per minute minus your age.

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