The physical activity philosophy of the 21st century is “Health is Wealth.” This statement has been around since the beginning of the century and has since remained true. Unfortunately, in today’s society with its focus on sitting in front of a computer screen and constantly being told that we need to be “thin” and that there is no such thing as a “healthy,” normal weight.
People who are diagnosed with Type II diabetes may benefit from increased physical activity on a daily basis. The purpose of the exercise is to increase your ability to utilize stored energy. Physical activity is defined as any physical motion that requires muscular effort which requires an expenditure of energy that cannot be provided by diet alone. In other words, the exercise is designed to build, maintain, and repair our muscles and our cells. It is important to realize that everyone’s individual responses to exercise will vary, but most exercise programs involve an exercise regime of some kind on a fairly regular basis. It is important to remember that physical activity is all around us.
As a matter of fact, there is more than one definition of physical activity and people moving about between these definitions is as wide as the human endeavor itself. Many people believe they are active when they only move their heads, while other people define exercise in much more expansive terms. I tend to stick with the broadest definitions because they are more accurate. For example, just by typing my name twice, or moving my fingers side to side in rapid succession, I do not receive a physical action. I do participate in physical activity each time I click on a web page, type on my keyboard, or touch my pen to write something on my notebook. These broad definitions can help explain the phenomenon of “active” people going on diets, exercising, eating less, and spending a lot more money on their exercise programs.
