Excessive Exercise: Does It Really Harm Your Health? How Much Exercise Is Too Much?
The Chinese have long recognized the benefits of sports, hence the saying 'walk a hundred steps after meals, live to ninety-nine.' The benefits of physical exercise are almost universally recognized by people around the world. The U.S. Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee has pointed out that exercise is a 'remedy' for preventing disease and promoting health. The association further stated that the more time people spend in physical activity, the less time they spend sitting idly, and the lower their overall risk of death. Sports bring many benefits to people, such as improving sleep quality, maintaining stable emotions, and improving efficiency in handling affairs.
Sports bring almost all benefits to human health, covering people's whole life. 3-6 year old children participating in sports can make their bones and muscles develop better, and their weight status is better; 6-17 year old teenagers participating in sports can help their intelligence development, and also promote the development of their heart and lung function, and reduce the impact of bad emotions on them; adults participating in physical exercise, bring more benefits to them:
1Reduced the incidence of obesity, obesity is the beginning of adults' various chronic diseases;
2Prevent the occurrence of various cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, including hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, coronary heart disease and stroke;
3Reduced the risk of cancer, physical exercise can reduce the incidence of many malignant tumors, including: bladder cancer, breast cancer, uterine cancer, esophagus cancer, stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, kidney cancer and prostate cancer;
4Prevent neurological diseases, maintained the health of the brain, including Alzheimer's disease, anxiety, depression and chronic insomnia;
5Increased the function of bones, muscles and joints, prevented the occurrence of osteoarthritis.
For people over 60, exercise can not only gain the benefits above, but also reduce the injury of accidental falls caused by physical weakness or decreased coordination ability. What intensity of exercise can we obtain the greatest benefits from sports? The World Health Organization gave three schemes:
1At least exercise 5 days a week, at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise per day, totaling 150 minutes;
2At least exercise 3 days a week, at least 25 minutes of high-intensity aerobic exercise, totaling 75 minutes;
3At least exercise 2 days, performing moderate or high-intensity aerobic exercise, combined with appropriate muscle strength training.
As physical exercise is popularized, we will often hear news of sudden death caused by excessive exercise, especially in some high-intensity or long-duration sports, such as marathons. A study from Sweden that tracked 75,000 marathon participants for 10 years found that the more contestants completed the race, the lower their mortality rate. The scholars of this study believe that excessive exercise has no meaning for healthy people; only those with undiagnosed underlying diseases will damage their health with excessive exercise.
In order to be safe, everyone should consult with relevant experts before participating in high-intensity sports, especially those with various chronic diseases. Recently, a study from Japan found that as long as people take a brisk walk twice a week, each 20 minutes, they can gain benefits from exercise. If you can persist for more than a year, many people's walking endurance, lower limb muscle strength and mental health will be significantly improved. If you don't have time to exercise, try this more secure method.
