Physical activity and motivation🤸‍♀️

Physical activity benefits: ❤️

There is irrefutable evidence of the effectiveness of regular physical activity in the prevention of several chronic diseases (e.g., cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, hypertension, obesity, depression and osteoporosis) and premature death. The human body is made to move regularly and to be physical active. In history, the movement was required for survival but contemporary technical development and advantages eliminated the need for hard physical labor. Physical inactivity can lead to many health problems. 

Physical activity can reduce resting blood pressure and increase capacity to carry blood in the coronary arteries. Beneficial changes also occur in the lining of blood vessels which help direct the appropriate distribution of blood in the body. Regular physical activity can also exert beneficial effects on the body's capacity for forming and breaking down blood clots, and produces favourable changes in plasma lipid profile. Physical activity is known to improve blood glucose handling and is also associated with beneficial immunological (with the exception of intense activities of long duration) and neurological changes.

Physical activity reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease in a dose-dependent manner. Benefits are seen with regular moderate-intensity physical activity, e.g. walking, but more intense exercise, e.g. running, carried out more often and for longer episodes can decrease risk even further.

Physical activity has been shown to reduce the risk of a number of cancers. It is well established that physical activity reduces the risk of colon cancer (especially in men) and breast cancer (especially in post-menopausal women). There is also consistent evidence that physical activity reduces the risk of lung and endometrial cancers and some indication that physical activity can reduce the risk of advanced prostate cancer.

In childhood, physical activity habits, particularly during growth periods including puberty, have a long-lasting effect on bone health. Weight-bearing and high impact activities, such as running or skipping, are most effective at increasing bone strength. In older adults, physical activity is important to counteract the age-related decrease in bone mass. Physical activity can decrease the risk of osteoporotic fractures in older people, particularly if the activity increases muscle strength, balance and co-ordination.

There is good evidence that physical inactivity increases the risk of clinical depression. There is also good evidence that physical activity has an important beneficial effect on anxiety. Furthermore, physical activity is important for psychological wellbeing and can be used as a means to improve mood and self-esteem.

Motivation: 🩵

Now, you probably feel motivated to increase your personal amount of physical activity. 

To increase your motivation to constantly do your workout routine, you can develop following habit to feel always motivated and constantly improving your physical activity:

1. Start thinking about the parts of your body that you want to train and look for the according exercises to do this. 

2. Then you start doing those exercises but begin the first day with the simplest form of each exercise (like for example 1 repetition). 

3. Try to perform your exercises each time you work out a little better by increasing the number of repetition (like from 1 to 2 and so on..) 

4. Write down every new record you can perform for each exercise. Every time you work out, your goal is to improve yourself a little bit and to do a new record in the performance of each exercise.

5. After you tried the best to improve your past self, you will feel very proud which will constantly motivates you to become better.

🍀 This approach helped me a lot to constantly improve my physical activity and to stay motivated, because it helps to just focus on the individual development and prevents from comparing with anyone else that seems to be fitter or stronger. 

🍀 Focus on yourself. This is the most important aspect for personal development. 

I think that everyone can try to apply this approach. Not only in the workout routine, but in every part of life. Always focus on your individual development, focus on what you achieved and try to improve this every time with little steps. This is perfect for measuring our own development and success and not becoming confused because of the comparison with other people. 💗

Example for the workout series: ⛹️‍♀️🏋️‍♀️

-Core muscles: Russian twist, plank

-Lower abdominal muscles: Supine Leg Raise

-Chest muscles, shoulder muscles, trizeps: Push-up

-Hamstring, Glutes: Squat

-Back muscles: Quadruped exercise

Listen to this podcast to learn about healthy habits & motivation: 🎧

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh_rNTdx9t0

Sources:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1467-3010.2007.00668.x

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0,5&qsp=3&q=lifelong+physical+activity+benefits&qst=ib#d=gs_qabs&t=1728825576575&u=%23p%3DAgV0H39IPQoJ

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0,5&qsp=8&q=physical+activity+and+health&qst=ir#d=gs_qabs&t=1728825671080&u=%23p%3DYKlQh7GP6ogJ