Did You Know May is National Fitness and Sports Month
Physical exercise is good for everyone’s health no matter what your age or body type. There is no better time to spread the word about the advantages of being active than National Fitness and Sports Month.
Let’s review the benefits of physical activity:
Kids and Teens – improves heart health, bone health, and muscular fitness. Active kids do better with 60 minutes or more of physical activity each day. Research shows that when children are physically active, they achieve higher grades, record better attendance, and their behavior improves. Both exercise and a healthy diet go hand in hand to maintain a healthy body and lifestyle.
Adults – lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some types of cancer. Physical activity also helps you maintain or lose weight as your metabolism naturally slows with age. Exercise helps increases the metabolism and builds muscle mass to support bone health. Aim for 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate activity each week.
Older Adults – improves cognitive functioning (like learning and judgment skills), It helps maintain the ability to live independently and reduces the risk of falling and fracturing bones. It also reduces the risk of dying from coronary heart disease and of developing high blood pressure, colon cancer, and diabetes.
What’s your favorite activity or sport?
You don’t have to be an elite athlete to be fit. It doesn’t matter where you are on your fitness journey or how you ended up here. You can make healthier choices starting today.
What kinds of activity should I do? To get all the health benefits of physical activity, do a combination of aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities.
- Aerobic activities make you breathe harder and cause your heart to beat faster. Running, brisk walking, bicycling, playing basketball, dancing, and swimming are all examples of aerobic activities. Research has shown that the total amount of time spent on physical activity is more important for achieving health benefits than is any one component (frequency, intensity, or duration).
- Muscle-strengthening activities make your muscles stronger. Muscle-strengthening activities include lifting weights, using resistance bands, push-ups or modified push-ups (knees on the floor), sit-ups, and gymnastics.
To get all patients and their families moving in the Scarborough ME area, Lisa P. Howard DDS MS Orthodontics recommend we all join Beyoncé and dance to her “Let’s Move” video at the top of this blog, originally created to jump start fun lifelong exercise habits. Let’s all get moving for National Fitness and Sports Month.