Regular physical exercise: way to healthy life

Any bodily activity or movement that enhances and maintains overall health and physical fitness is called physical exercise. Habit of regular physical exercise has got numerous benefits. Exercise is of various types such as aerobic exercise, anaerobic exercise and flexibility exercise. Aerobic exercise moves the large muscle groups with alternate contraction and relaxation, forces to deep breath, heart to pump more blood with adequate tissue oxygenation. It is also called cardiovascular exercise. Examples of aerobic exercise are walking, running, jogging, swimming etc. In anaerobic exercise, there is forceful contraction of muscle with stretching, usually mechanically aided and help to build up muscle strength and muscle bulk. Examples are weight lifting, pulling, pushing, sprinting etc. Flexibility exercise is one type of stretching exercise to improve the movements of muscles, joints and ligaments. Walking is a good example of aerobic exercise, easy to perform, safe, effective, does not require any training or equipment and less chance of injury. Regular 30 minutes brisk walking in the morning with 150 minutes per week is a good exercise. Regular exercise improves the cardiovascular status, reduces the risk of cardiac disease, high blood pressure and cerebrovascular disease. It reduces body weight, improves insulin sensitivity, helps in glycemic control, prevents obesity and diabetes mellitus. It is helpful for relieving anxiety, stress, brings a sense of well being and overall physical fitness. Global trend is mechanization, labor savings and leading to epidemic of long term chronic diseases like diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases etc. All efforts should be made to create public awareness promoting physical activity, physically demanding recreational pursuits and providing adequate facilities.