What are the benefits of regular
physical activity?
These are the
benefits often experienced by people who get regular physical
activity.
Feeling
better
Regular physical activity
—
- gives you more energy
- helps in coping with
stress
- improves your
self-image
- increases resistance to
fatigue
- helps counter anxiety and
depression
- helps you to relax and feel less
tense
- improves the ability to fall asleep
quickly and sleep well
- provides an easy way to share an
activity with friends or family and an opportunity to meet new
friends
Looking better
Regular physical activity —
- tones your muscles
- burns off calories to help lose
extra pounds or helps you stay at your desirable weight
- helps control your
appetite
You need to burn off 3,500 calories more than
you take in to lose 1 pound. If you want to lose weight, regular physical
activity can help you in either of two ways.
First, you can eat your
usual amount of calories, but be more active. For example: A 200-pound person
who keeps on eating the same amount of calories, but decides to walk briskly
each day for 11/2 miles will lose about 14 pounds in 1 year. Or, you can eat
fewer calories and be more active. This is an even better way to lose
weight.
About three-fourths of the energy you burn every day comes from
what your body uses for its basic needs, such as sleeping, breathing, digesting
food and reclining. A person burns up only a small amount of calories with daily
activities such as sitting. Any physical activity in addition to what you
normally do will burn up extra calories.
The average calories spent per
hour by a 150-pound person are listed below. (A lighter person burns fewer
calories; a heavier person burns more.) Since exact calorie figures are not
available for most activities, the figures below are averaged from several
sources and show the relative vigor of the activities.
Activity
Calories burned
Bicycling 6 mph
240 cals./hr.
Bicycling 12 mph
410 cals./hr.
Cross-country skiing
700 cals./hr.
Jogging 5 1/2 mph
740 cals./hr.
Jogging 7 mph
920 cals./hr.
Jumping rope
750 cals./hr.
Running in place
650 cals./hr.
Running 10 mph
1280 cals./hr.
Swimming 25 yds/min.
275 cals./hr.
Swimming 50 yds/min.
500 cals./hr.
Tennis-singles
400 cals./hr.
Walking 2 mph
240 cals./hr.
Walking 3 mph
320 cals./hr.
Walking 41/2 mph
440 cals./hr.
comment:
p_commentcount