Physical Activity, Fitness and Wellness: Wellness, The New Lifestyle.
A Little Clarity On These Terms
Maybe you didn’t know that:
- About 25% of deaths from chronic diseases are caused by a sedentary lifestyle and lack of physical activity.
- Physical activity is an independent factor for human health: it means that physical activity alone is able to decrease the risk of mortality from any disease. Thus, for example, a smoker who engages in physical activity is much less likely to die than a smoker who does not exercise.
- Just as physical activity is considered a medicine, lack of physical activity is considered a disease, the so-called “hypokinetic disease”.
- Reduced physical activity in childhood also has serious repercussions in adulthood and the elderly.
- Reduced physical activity is often associated with unhealthy eating habits.
- The negative effects caused by the lack of physical activity are dose-dependent, that is, the less physical activity you practice, the more the risks increase.
- The lack of physical activity also has very serious repercussions on the state’s economic budgets because it increases the costs of public health.
- Reduced physical activity has negative effects on the whole body, from bones to hair, from heart to lungs.
But What Is Physical Activity?
“Physical activity is defined as any movement of the body induced by skeletal muscles capable of giving rise to an energy expenditure in excess of the resting condition”
“Exercise is a particular form of physical activity: it has the characteristic of being planned, structured, repetitive and of being aimed at improving or maintaining the state of fitness and well-being”
Are physical activity and fitness synonymous?
“Fitness represents the possibility of carrying out daily activities with attention and vigor, without fatigue and with enough reserve of energy to face emergencies or to enjoy leisure time”
Fitness is actually a very broad concept that can be interpreted as the absence of disease, the distance from death or the ability to sustain a certain physical activity. From this last point of view, fitness is a set of characteristics that people achieve in relation to the ability to perform physical activity. If, for example, a person engages in regular physical activity they will have a high level of fitness and vice versa.
Regular physical activity means improving your fitness; Improving your fitness means improving your well-being.
Wellness, The New Lifestyle.
“Wellness is a state of inner satisfaction, the result of a complete psycho-physical contentment”
A wellness lifestyle therefore requires attention, not only to the body, but also to the mind and spirit. Wellness is health at 360 degrees. It is achieved through education in regular physical activity, a balanced diet and a positive mental approach. The task of the modern personal trainer is to aim at the well-being of his client, ensuring not only maximum physical but also mental well-being.
Seen from this point of view, the figure of the personal trainer assumes even more significant importance. A qualified personal trainer brings together different figures, not only a coach, but also a friend, colleague, personal motivator.
Personal motivator, a figure who has recently appeared in Italy, but who will certainly assume great importance in the future. A personal motivator helps to concentrate one’s positive energies, to achieve one’s goals and to enhance the body, spirit and mind. And what better tool than physical activity to do all this?
