ONE of the five most important items in the health advisory of the World Health Organization in their global circular released early in 2017 is for humans to exercise, together with lifestyle modification- avoidance of smoking, alcohol- have a balanced diet, vaccination and avoidance of stress, whether physical or emotional.
Thus your columnist sincerely hopes that at this crucial time of the year, congratulations go to determined individuals who have made a firm resolve and a promise to exercise, with our prayers that, the resolution will last not only for a week or months but for the 365 days, until exercise becomes part of their daily routine, as natural as we humans exhale carbon dioxide and inhale oxygen to sustain dear life.
Basically, there are two general types of exercise, admittedly with subsets under them. When people go to the gym especially the young men - lately even coeds - to lift weights for a firm, toned shaped legs and arms to get that much-envied six-packs - or is it eight packs? - in the abdomen, the activity is resistance exercise, in the sense that the resistance is exerted by the pulling force of gravity on those barbells or dumbbells, which by willful exertion of the person, he/she is able to lift above the ground. It must be emphasized at this point, that the enlargement of the specific parts of the human body is due to hypertrophy- increase in the size of individual muscle fibers and not an increase in the number.
Of course, the public fully aware of warnings and precautions regarding lifting weights, notably for men to wear supporters especially athletes involved in exertion activities like marathon, basketball, football and soccer- to avoid the commonly encountered inguinal hernia. A more serious consequence could be a heart attack, especially among middle age adults, because of the Valsalva’s maneuver- when lifting weights, the person does so with a forced exhalation against a closed glottis in the throat, which decreases significantly the return of venous blood back to the heart, and therefore, the heart ejects much less oxygen to the body especially the heart and the brain. A constipated person also trying forcefully to expel a hard stool is undergoing Valsalva’s maneuver, thus our readers may have heard of persons found dead while sitting on a toilet bowl. The take home message here is please have a general check up with your family before starting on any exercise regimen.
For most of us, due to lack of time to go to the gym, no budget intended for membership in a health club, the recommended exercise is the so-called cardio because of the benefits the two vital organs which are neighbors in location- heart and lungs would have. Unlike resistance exercises which involves almost stationary little movements, cardio exercises involves lots and lots of physical movements of all parts of the body. Thus, the proverbial five minutes warm up- very important to prime the muscles which could be in the form of gentle stretching almost similar to the dancing tai chi stance, that way, heat is slowly build up from the proximal – torso- to the distal parts- arms-forearm-wrist, palm-fingers; same from the hips, thighs, legs, ankle foot-toes. And by the way, from the point of view of losing weight, on top of the health benefits advantageous to the heart and lungs, it is better to have a 30 minutes – with 5 minutes warm up and 5 minutes cool down, therefore 45 minutes- 3x a week than a 15 minutes 6x a week regimen. The reason is metabolic, meaning, a 15 minute exercise burns only stored carbohydrates-glycogen- whereas a 30 minutes intense exercise burns also the much-unwanted fat deposits.
The word “intense” means the steady state of physical activity in which heart rate and respiratory rate are both increased, with the ultimate purpose of removing carbon dioxide and other toxins from the body thru exhalation and enriching the cells with fresh oxygen thru inhalation. For Senzens- term of endearment for senior citizens and elderly, avoid the high impact exercises like jogging, because the activity would impinge on the cartilage cushion as well as the internal synovial lining of weight-bearing joints like knees, and ankle. Swimming, brisk walking and oh yes, even ballroom dancing would be excellent alternatives. And for the young ones, dealing with weight issues, if there are no contraindications for your health, running especially on the early morning hours, would be beneficial. At this juncture, allow your columnist to clarify: it’s not true that obesity runs in families. The truth is, nobody runs in the family.