Why is Physical Activity Important

 Sports, Fitness, Good Physique, Physical activity, etc.., has been a part of every person's life. Going out and playing games with one's friends has been a daily activity in a kid's life. But why? Why is this physical activity, stretching our body and not being a couch potato necessary? Can't we just avoid it like most of the people do because of the busy life of a city commoner? Answer is obviously nope...we all know that but still choose to avoid it. 

Here's why we tend to avoid it, fear of not being able to do it, laziness, considering oneself fit enough to avoid it but the irony is that, it is physical activity alone that pushes the above mentioned things away. So as that saying goes 'All good things start somewhere', let your good thing of being physically active start today. 

What impact does sports have in our lives? From a medical point of view it has proven to be a successful cure and prevention of various heart diseases, diabetes, depression, anaemia and so many more, from an emotional point of view it enlightens the mood, is an amazing stressbuster, increases self-confidence and overall makes one happy, from a physical point of view it makes a person feel good about the way they look, increases stamina, agility, speed, spontaneity and the list goes on. 

Personally for me, physical activity helps me stay light on my feet all day and oh it also allows me to get a good deep sleep during the night, not only that, it helps me to focus on one thing at a time like for example on a normal day when I don't exercise and try to sit at one place to study (my bed cause I feel lazy to get up from there) my thoughts keep wandering around and eventually after about twenty minutes of daydreaming and ten minutes study, I find myself flat on my back, dozing off. This may not be the case with everyone but it is quite normal and natural for the body to long for rest when you haven't yet got it up and running. Call it the simple law of inertia ' A Body continues to remain at rest until and unless an external imbalanced force is acting on it ‘. So unless you give it an imbalanced push...aka exercise to get out of your comfort bubble of lethargy, how is your body gonna want to do any work. But on the other hand once you give it that external force, the second aspect of inertia comes into play ' A Body continues to remain in uniform motion until and unless and external imbalanced force is acting on it ’. In this case the force being; time to hit the bed.

Now I’m not saying that straight out of the blue get down and do a hundred push-ups or fifty burfies because that is not how your body works or for that matter no one’s body works that way. Every single thing that happens takes time. If your friend can walk for ten kilometres because he or she has been doing it for a long time you can start with one, because one is better than nothing.

This is another reason why we are hesitant to start, it’s all in the mind. Many a times we look at a neighbour and start comparing ourselves, would I be able to do that? What if people make fun of me if I'm not able to do it? 'You know what! Forget it never mind, I'm never gonna be that good' is where are thoughts end up. But you know what the beauty of life is, the most amazing, precious and delightful things take time. Before transforming into one of the most beautiful winged creature a butterfly goes through a couple of not so good looking stages. My point being that it is okay if you can't keep up a good pace or cover a huge distance like other people, because everybody's body is different, energy levels are different. So take your own sweet time and enjoy every second of your walk or run or jog or workout, whichever suits you the best and makes you happy. You’re just starting out so it is perfectly fine, keep a pace you’re comfortable with and as time will have it you will be fit enough to even walk fifteen kilometres.

One very proven fact about physical activity is that it makes a person feel fresh. Now I know it kinda sounds contradictory like doesn’t physical activity make your body tired? But here’s the thing, according to an article by American Psychological association The exercise effect (apa.org), and many others ,physical exertion and movement of muscles is quite the mood enhancer. Wake up-Eat-Study-Work-Sleep and repeat cycle is quite hectic and bound to build up stress, make a person irritable and I mean we are all human beings and not Robots. Just a little fresh air, sun kissing our cheeks, birds singing in sweet harmony and of course the sweat falling off our heads is more than enough and effective than any other spa treatment, massage or any other stress relief therapies. 

That being said, It is your body, your life, your decision. Well, obviously, popular opinion, everyone’s wish is to live their life to the fullest and a healthy body can help one to achieve that. So, as mentioned before, start your good thing today and take the first step, get motivated to focus on your physical fitness, feel good about yourself, stop being insecure and enjoy your workout today.