The role of exercise and play in a young child's life provides them with many benefits. Exercise of the body is an important part of keeping the young body fit as it grows into an adult body. When we reach adulthood, if we have had the benefit of exercise and play, we tend to continue that habit into our adult years.

What else is to be gained from the opportunities that play affords? We often participate in organized sports, coordinated play times, and are a member of a large group during all of these activities. Play on this level teaches us how to interact with our peers, develop camaraderie and perform as a team with other players. These skills are absolute necessities in today's business world. But what else is happening here, during this time of play and exercise?

What we learn in body language, coping skills, and the interaction of the mind and body during our interaction with others, is invaluable. When we learn these skills well, we not only learn how to interact with others, we learn how to interact with our self. Interact with our self? That seems like a pointless exercise, but it is an all important part of maintaining our health and wellness. There are times that our bodies try to tell us things about our physical or mental condition, and we simply refuse to listen. If we have learned how to listen to others around us when they attempt to point out a need or desire, we have a useful tool in listening to ourselves. This often can mean the difference between optimal health, and creating an unhealthy situation. What else do we learn? We learn what our physical and mental limitations are. During play, you see children and young adolescents push themselves to the very limit. But as children, we are better able to distinguish between a real limit versus what society deems our limits. As a child, or young adult, the pressures of the world do not weigh on us as they do when we are adults. We are better keepers of the temple at ten, than we are at twenty. We are still very in tune to what our body tells us, because it is our true master as a child. As an adult, we have let outside influences master our body and mind, and dominate our time. As you can see, the benefits to be gained during our exercise and play time as children, is a benefit to us for the remainder of our lives. Too often, we adults forget the importance of exercise and play and the principles that are to be learned from time spent in these activities. We want to rush our children into their daily responsibilities, forgetting that their chief responsibility during the younger years is the play and interaction of young minds.

Twitter This

Usuario: Password:

While I must accept the opinions of so many experts, I still find setting aside the time is a problem in my busy life. If you experience the same problem, you might try some of these ideas to get you going:

1. When you go to the mall or grocery store, don't park next to the front door of the store. Leave your car as far from the store as you can. This will give you more of a walk in an effortless way.

2. When the weather suits you, go outside and clean the yard. Just bending and stretching to pick up leaves and trash will burn calories.

3. Try taking the dog for a walk. Your dog will enjoy this very much and keep you moving.

4. At work, perhaps you can walk at lunch time. I've found that some of my office staff are willing to walk some days with me. This makes the time go faster and yet, I've exercised during the daylight hours.

I'm sure you can find many more reasons and ideas to help motivate you in the right direction. I find that walking in the sunshine helps improve my mood and that I will just make the time when the sun is out. Find your reason to help yourself.

Twitter This

Usuario: Password:

Water is involved in all the metabolic processes, so not providing the body with enough liquid can have as a consequence perturbation of the bio-chemical reactions, which directly influences the effectiveness of the training and even the practitioner's state of health.

Physical effort, especially the aerobic one, leads to dehydration through perspiration (which regulates the temperature of the body, preventing over-heating). There is a very strict rule which imposes drinking water (liquid) before, during and after physical effort. Besides regulating the body temperature, correct hydrating helps eliminating the toxic substances resulted during and after the training (urea, sodium, etc.) easier; hydration acts like a 'means of transport' through perspiration and urine. Thus, the metabolism of blood sugar, lipids and proteins is developed in good conditions, ensuring contraction force for short time and especially for resistance efforts.

There is also the opposite of dehydration – over hydration, due to excessive consume of water. In this situation, besides the inconvenient of very frequent urination, the blood vessels are overloaded and this leads to making the work of the heart, which must provide a much too big volume of pumping, more difficult. As a consequence, the effectiveness of the training is hindered and the sport performance does not get to the expected level. The sensation of 'heavy body' can also appear for the practitioner of common fitness.

As for the type of liquids, the sportsman must supervise the level of effort which produces dehydration and melting of the glycogen reserves. Besides water, the practitioner can use isotonic drinks, (which have an electrolytic composition similar to the one of the body) or liquids containing sugar easy and quick to absorb by the body (fructose, glucose, dextrose, etc.). All of these can contribute to fast restore of the glycogen reserves of the body. It is advisable to drink the liquids in small and frequent doses, so that the body assimilates them better and they do not briskly overload the body during effort.

Both in over hydrating and in dehydrating, there is the risk of 'putting to work' too much the renal excretory function. Over hydrating can have as a consequence significant elimination of electrolytes, which are precious for the body (potassium, sodium, iron, zinc, etc), and they need to be replaced from sources as natural as possible (fruit, vegetables, mineral water, etc.). In case of dehydrating, the volume of urine will be severely diminished because the body will try to retain mineral salts and vitamins. Besides unwanted deposits, renal lithiasis, gout, etc., a very severe consequence of this effort of the body to retain liquid is renal blocking.

Correct hydrating involves a certain discipline, which means that liquids must be consumed repeatedly during the day, not only during physical effort. A person must not get to feel thirst. This is only a very late alarm, signaling that the right quantity of water has been missing from the body for a couple of hours. Except while eating and immediately after, in order not to perturb digestion by excessive diluting, a real prophylaxis of dehydrating and over hydrating can be made through correct, constant and preventive consume of liquids.

Twitter This

Usuario: Password:

When I was in college, I wasn't very fat or heavy at all. I used to jog three miles a day religiously, until the day I got a job, and then I just didn't seem to have the time for it anymore. With a little patience and a lot of junk food, I grew to be over 60 pounds heavier than my former self. Then, out of the blue sky, I decided to take up jogging again. I bought a pair of cheap running shoes and headed for the local high school track. There was quite a variety of people walking, running, and playing soccer. I saw a few high school-aged people and even some women and men over 60 or 70 years old. I thought, "This is great, I can look forward to 40 more years of jogging."

I remembered that I had liked to stretch before the three-mile-joy-ride, so I stretched out my thighs, calves, and any other leg muscles I could think of. I was set to go, and I couldn't wait to get the "runner's high" that I used to experience daily.

The first ten steps were a little bit uncomfortable, and of course they would be. I hadn't attempted to jog in seven years (and 60 pounds). "But I only need to run twelve laps," I thought to myself. That would be three miles.

I started out strong, but within the first half lap, I had slowed considerably and I was having trouble breathing. This isn't how I remembered it. What was going on? I feared I might collapse right here on the track, and then the grandma runners would pass me up one by one and laugh. I couldn't let that happen.

Since I could barely run, or breathe, I decided to start limping. It didn't matter which leg I chose as long as it remained consistent. I slowly limped onto the grass in the center of the track and pretended to be assessing the damage to my leg. I was actually sucking wind quite violently.

A few people stopped to ask if I was all right. All I could think to say was, "Damn, it's the same muscle I pulled six months ago." I'm glad they didn't ask me which muscle. I then massaged my leg all over but concentrated most of my efforts on my left ankle. Within five minutes I was up and limping again, this time straight towards my car.

Even though I seemed to pull off the fake limping act, I still felt miserable. I hadn't even run one lousy lap. I got in my car and raced away. I couldn't go straight home until I had collected all of my painful thoughts and sorted them out. Instead, I headed to the one place that I felt most welcome…7-Eleven. I don't remember what I feasted on that day, but I didn't imagine that the clerk was laughing at me as I had imagined the other runners back at the track had been. In fact, no one really laughed at me that day, but they might have if I hadn't been such a great actor. And knowing that they could have laughed at me, I ate like a king and queen combined, and I cleansed myself of the imagined laughter. I wanted a hug that day, but maybe what I really needed was therapy.

The story illustrates that you need to exercise at your current level of ability. If it has been five years since you've exercised, you cannot expect yourself to pick right up where you left off. Experiment a little and see what your body can actually do right now.

Another gem I will peddle to you is the idea of starting small and building up to bigger routines as you become ready. If you decide that walking will be your favorite means of exercising, don't try for ten miles on your first day. You can easily start by just walking around the block each day for a week. Next you can try expanding your walk to involve a few more blocks. The following week you'll add even more blocks, and in six months or so, you just might be walking three or four miles. Make sure that you build up gradually, rather than biting off more than you can chew. It's much better to have a continuous string of successes than a setback every four weeks.

After you lose ten to fifteen pounds, you will feel able to exercise longer. The more you lose, the more you can do. That seems a bit backwards to me. The people who most need to exercise are the same people who can do the least amount of it. It's a cruel world. Don't think–just get started right now.

When you are ready to begin exercising, remember that you will be doing this each day. It is important not to get bored. If you keep your exercise bicycle in the garage, make sure you also have a television or radio in the garage. Watching television or listening to the radio passes the time a little faster; before you know it, your 30 minutes are up.

One friend of mine is a big advocate of varying your routine often. If you've been walking on flat land as your exercise, perhaps the next thing to do is to try adding some hills to your walk. Then perhaps you could bike on certain days and swim on others. I agree that this would be a better overall workout than exercising the same way each day. However, I'm lazier than he, and we both know it. He has weighed 100 pounds less than me for a stretch of nearly ten years, so he must be doing at least a few things right. Whatever your exercise plan will be, make sure you keep at it. Make a schedule and stick to it. Let it be a regular part of your day, like brushing your teeth or feeding your dog or cat. It's easy to say you will just take one day off, but sometimes that day can turn into days or weeks.

Plan ahead for the winter or off-season. You may not be able to jog for long stretches at a time during the winter, depending upon your local climate. Buy that exercise bike, or take up an indoor exercise such as aerobics.

It is also wise to be mindful of the time of day you prefer to exercise. I knew a lot of people at my office that liked to get up early in the morning and exercise. I always had a hard time getting up early, since I had been used to staying up so late (when I was twenty-something). But many things would keep me from exercising after work. I was often too tired or mentally drained after work. I also belonged to some clubs that met in the evenings, and I still needed some time to see my friends. Yes, life was busy, but I'm sure it's been busy for you as well. Given my situation, I eventually realized that I could exercise more consistently if I woke up one hour earlier and exercised in the morning. Was that easy for me? No. It took me three or four months to adjust to my new schedule. But once I found myself bouncing out of bed very early in the morning, I knew I would continue to do so.

The best news about exercise is that it gives your metabolism a jolt to help you burn more calories even after you've finished exercising. That's truly a deal you can't pass up. So stop whatever it is that you are doing and go exercise right now. Yes, I mean it! Hurry! Right now!

Twitter This

Usuario: Password:

Obesity and poor physical fitness constitute a health problem affecting an increasing number of children. Childhood obesity and poor physical fitness are associated with insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus, blood lipid abnormalities, and high blood pressure in later life, according to background information in the article. The causes of childhood obesity include a pervasive "toxic" environment that facilitates increased caloric intake and reduced physical activity. In order to alter the children's environment, it is suggested, an effective strategy for prevention and treatment of childhood obesity must be pervasive and collaborative. The school setting is an attractive starting point for a collaborative effort.

Eye Exercise This eye exercise is as simple as it sounds. Whenever it occurs to you that you've been spending too much time staring at the monitor, purposely shift your vision to look at the weave of the fabric on your sleeve or the poster on the wall or the tree across the street.

Exercise tip for an exercise benefit: Whenever you and your spouse or friends have free time, use it to go for a hike, a day of fun with the kids in the park, etc. When kids are at a park you'll get a lot of exercise because all children love to go up and down on the slide, swing etc. and they always want their parents to do it with them, so do it

Regular activity can also improve the way you look and feel. In combination with a balanced diet, regular activity can help to maintain a healthy weight. It can even boost self-confidence and reduce the risk of depression.

How much is enough? For an adult, regular, moderate intensity physical activity means using up about an extra 200 calories per day, most days of the week. This equates to about 30 minutes of activity, such as a two-mile brisk walk, that should make you feel warm and mildly out of breath. During moderate intensity activity, you should still be able to talk without panting in between your words.

Twitter This

Usuario: Password:

The key to keeping up with a resolution to get fit is finding an activity, or range of activities, that you enjoy. Not everyone sees exercise as fun, and doing something you find boring just because it's good for you is very difficult to sustain. But you can take steps to make it more enjoyable.

Eye Exercise

Close your eyes as tightly as you possibly can. Squeeze the eyes, so that the eye muscles contract. Hold this contraction for three seconds and then let go quickly. This exercise causes deep relaxation of the eye muscles and is especially beneficial after the slight strain caused by the eye exercises. Blink the eyes a few times.

Exercise tip for an exercise benefit:

Get yourself a stationary bike. They're easy and handy and quiet. So you can hop on it and exercise when your little one is taking a nap. Play your children's games with them: hopscotch, kick ball, jump-rope or what ever they come up with.

Exercise facts

Evidence shows that regular exercise can:

1. increase levels of HDL or "good" cholesterol,2. lower high blood pressure,3. help improve body composition by burning fat,4. promote healthy blood sugar levels,5. promote bone density,6. boost the immune system,7. improve mood and reduce the chance of depression.

Generally speaking, the greater your stamina, the greater are the health benefits. If you want to improve your stamina, it's important to start gently, increasing the frequency of your activity before increasing how hard you exercise.

Try out new sports or activities until you find something you like. When you find an activity you like, try exercising with a friend, at a pace that still allows you to talk. Activities that you can do as a family or with friends may help with motivation.

Twitter This

Usuario: Password:

To maximize your overall health benefits, experts typically recommend that you perform 20 to 30 minutes of aerobic activity three or more times a week and some type of muscle strengthening activity and stretching at least twice a week. However, you can also achieve significant health benefits by completing 30 minutes or more of moderate-intensity physical activity a day, at least five times a week.

If you are just beginning an exercise program, starting at a slow pace with low-impact activities such as walking or swimming will allow you to improve your physical fitness level while safeguarding you from unwanted overuse injuries and burnout. Once you get in better shape, you can gradually integrate more strenuous and varied activities into your routine.

Positive Impact of Physical Activity According to the U.S. Surgeon General, regular physical activity reduces the risk of developing or dying from some of the leading causes of illness and death in the United States. Further, regular exercise effectively:

Reduces the risk of dying from heart disease.

Reduces the risk of developing diabetes.

Reduces the risk of developing high blood pressure.

Helps reduce blood pressure in people who already Have high blood pressure.

Reduces the risk of developing colon cancer.

Reduces feelings of depression and anxiety.

Helps control weight.

Helps build and maintain healthy bones, muscles, and joints.

Helps older adults become stronger and better able to move about without falling.

Promotes psychological well-being.

The health benefits of exercise can be achieved by virtually everyone, regardless of age, sex, race or physical ability. Therefore, if you want to feel better, have more energy and live longer, simply follow a program of regular, moderate exercise and enjoy a better quality of life.

Twitter This

Usuario: Password:

Avoiding body stress when exercising: First of all be sure you are healthy. It is wise to have a physical check up before you begin an exercise regime, especially if you are recovering from an illness. It is very important not to over do it:

Start excising gradually, do not rush into a strenuous routine Stimulate your body systems carefully by carrying out each exercise correctly. Wear clothing that is comfortable Exercise regularly if possible at a set time. Results will come over time do not expect instant consequences You may want to consult a physician, if you have just recovered from a serious illness.

Be careful not to get overheated: heat exhaustion can creep up on you and can be dangerous. Here are a few safety tips for outdoor exercise in those hot summer days.

Replace fluids: your body can dehydrate quite quickly if you are not careful. It may not be particularly hot but if it is humid you will sweat more and lose valuable fluids. You can replace fluids with sports drinks- replacement of minerals and cool water. Always make sure you drink a lot when exercising in the heat. For short bouts of exercise, less than an hour, water is sufficient. For longer exercise sports drinks are recommended.

In really hot weather you can schedule your exercise either in the evening or early morning. Consider working indoors if this cannot be managed.

Be aware of warning signs like fatigue and feeling light headed. If you experience these symptoms stop, rest in the cool and drink plenty of fluids.

Dress in loose cool clothes that will allow your body to breathe and sweat.

Be careful of air quality alerts, which can be more prevalent in summer. It is best to do indoor exercise if there are alerts.

Regular exercise: It is best to take regular exercise rather than a lot one day and none for the next few days. 20 minutes 2-3 times a day is a good regime. Or you can take a brisk walk for 2-5 miles. Bicycling is good but should be done in the cool of the day. The main thing to remember is to be careful and not overexert yourself. It is good to push yourself a little but not too much and you will see the results you need.

Get into the habit of trying to exercise at the same time and you will soon fall into a routine. Once you are in the habit of exercising you will see those pounds come off and at the same time you will strengthen your muscles. Over time you will see a change in yourself and will definitely feel much better, Exercise should always be coupled with a healthy diet for maximum results. As well as this you should get adequate rest so that you can have an all-round feeling of good health.

Twitter This

Usuario: Password:

You should be doing a three fold program of exercise which includes aerobics, resistance and stretching exercises. Aerobic exercise like walking and bike riding will begin to get your body conditioned properly because it strengthens your heart and lightly works your muscles. Resistance exercise like weight lifting will strengthen the muscles that support your back. Stretching exercises will increase flexibility giving your back a greater range of motion. Your doctor can guide you as to when and how much of each type of exercise you should be getting.

For people with lower back pain, the best aerobic exercises to do are low impact ones like swimming, walking and bike riding. Jogging, dance aerobics and step aerobics all produce repeated impact on your back and on your knee and hip joints as well. In order to get in good condition, start out with 15 minutes of light aerobic work per day, 2 to 3 times per week, and then gradually build yourself up to 30 to 40 minutes per day, 4 to 5 times per week.

You should be working enough to raise your heart rate to be in between 65% to 85% of your maximal heart rate. You determine your maximal heart rate by subtracting your age from 220. Regardless of whether you are walking, bike riding or doing any other aerobic exercise, always maintain good posture. This means sit up strait, stand strait and do not slouch or lean forward. Good posture is essential to any good exercise program.

When it comes to resistance exercising, you always want to concentrate on the abdominal muscles. These muscles play a major part in giving your lower back support and the stronger they are, the more relief for your back. Also important is to do exercises that are designed to specifically strengthen the lower back muscles themselves. You will best benefit from working each muscle group 2 to 3 times per week. You may want to hire a qualified fitness trainer to help get you on your way by designing a resistance program that is right for you.

Remember that while resistance exercise is great for strengthening the targeted muscles being worked, there should never be any pain involved. Some discomfort should be present in the muscles being worked while performing the exercises for them, but should subside very shortly after completion of the exercise. If there is any pain during the exercises or if discomfort persists for some time after, it is a sign that something is wrong and exercising should be discontinued and your doctor should be consulted immediately.

As far as stretching is concerned, 10 to 15 minutes of moderate stretching per day is usually enough to get the job done just fine. Here you really want to concentrate on stretching your hamstrings which are the muscles in the back of your upper legs. The looser your hamstring muscles are, the better range of motion your back will have as flexible hamstring muscles do not put the strain on your lower back that tight ones do.

Stretching the lower back muscles is also a must and sitting on the floor with your legs flat on the floor in front of you while you slowly reach for your toes until you can't go any further, hold for 10 seconds, and sit back up is a great exercise to stretch both your hamstrings and your lower back. Repeat this stretch 2 to 3 times each day.

While there are no miracle cures for lower back pain, you can make living with a lower back condition much easier to deal with by simply incorporating some exercise into your life each day. It is worth the effort in the long run give up 30 to 40 minutes per day, 4 to 5 days per week to exercise away your lower back pain.

Twitter This

Usuario: Password:

Gone are the exercise bikes that are like outdoor bikes, not we have spinning machines and exercise bikes with TVs on them. We have exercise bikes that will take us up hills and down them to add some spice to our workouts and exercise bikes that will monitor your heart rate and your breathing. It is truly amazing just how much these amazing fitness machines have changed over the last few years. And the best part is that all of these changes to the exercise bikes of today mean that you get a better, more personalized workout each and every tie that you get onto on.

What makes exercise bikes so great and so popular is that they offer so much variety but you never have to leave the house. Many people do not like going to a public gym to exercise in front of all kinds of people. It makes you uncomfortable, who wants others to see them sweating? I know I don't. And when you have home exercise bikes you never have to take this kind of thing into consideration, you can do all of your exercising in the privacy of your own home.

That is not the only plus to exercise bikes though, there is more. If you had a regular bike, what would you do when it snowed or it was raining really hard? It is not safe to ride a bike outdoors in that kind of weather. Not only could you slip and fall off, but others driving could have a hard time seeing you. This can lead to all kinds of dangerous situations but when you have your own exercise bikes indoors, you can exercise at any time of the day r night, in any weather with perfect safety. Safety should always come first and with these kinds of exercise bikes it always does.

When it comes to choosing the exercise bikes that are right for you, it will take some serious shopping around. You need to take into consideration why you are looking for indoor exercise bikes. Is it to burn fat? To promote good heart health? Better circulation? These types of considerations will affect the kind of exercise bikes that you should be looking at. Since there are so many add ons and extras that you can get these days you need to make sure that you are looking at the exercise bikes that have what you need.

For example, if you want to work on your heart health then you need to look at the exercise bikes that will have heart monitors and perhaps some more of those kinds of add ons.

Twitter This

Usuario: Password: