PHYSICAL EXERCISE

RAJNI SHARMA: 

Health is wealth. We keep guards to protect our wealth from thieves. Similarly we should protect our health from disease. Physical exercise guards our health. Good health is impossible without proper exercise. Physical exercise prevents the attack of disease. Different people do different exercises. It depends upon their physical constitution and their likings. Morning walk and evening walk are recommended for all. But those who have weak constitutions are advised not to go for gymnastics.

Free-hand exercises can be easily practiced by all. In schools and colleges, there are facilities for outdoor games. The brain of the students will be free and can receive anything whenever they begin to read anything.

In villages, some rural sports are played. Those include kho-kho, kabaddi, monkey-dance on trees etc. Young boys climb trees to collect fruits. These kinds of games and habits serve for exercises. Boating and riding are also good examples of exercise. Playing football, hockey and cricket in school and college has become very popular. In advanced age, people should adopt morning walk in order to keep themselves active.

Mental work has increased for modern man. He does more mental work and less of physical work. In this way he ruins his body. He becomes easy victim to different ailments. Only physical exercise can help him in being healthy. It is a matter of grief that the scope for physical exercise is gradually decreasing.

Students are busy in preparing for competitive examinations. They are not paying attention to their health. They believe that only good food can keep them healthy. But it is a wrong idea. They can be healthy and strong” in true sense, if they do regular physical exercise.

Children should be active everyday in as many ways as they can through play, transport and recreation. Additional benefits can be gained from structured moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity such as sport, physical education, and dance or planned activity for three or more sessions of 20 minutes or more per week.

Walking briskly or biking for pleasure or transportation, swimming, engaging in sports and games, participating in physical education programmes, and doing tasks in the home and garden may all contribute to accumulated physical activity. Children and adults who already engage in regular activity may benefit from more vigorous activity.

In addition to being physically active, children need to learn fundamental motor skills and develop health related Physical fitness (Cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility and body composition). Physical education provided at school is an ideal way to encourage activity and develop fitness among children and for many children will be their only preparation for an active lifestyle.

The Physical activity Pyramid provides a way of describing a variety of physical activities. Children are encouraged to learn and perform activities from each of the first three levels of the pyramid. Levle-1 of the pyramid includes lifestyle activities, or activities that can be done as part of the daily normal living.

Activities at this level include walking to school or in the neighborhood riding a bike, and for children play of all kinds. This type of activity is more likely than other types of activities to be performed throughout life.

As children grow older, they will be interested in activities at level-2 including active aerobics, sports and recreational activities.

It is important for children to begin learning the skills of this type of activity but it is unreasonable to expect that children will be interested in performing active aerobic activities such as running continuously, or playing sports at a highly competitive level. Children should be introduced to activities at level-2 gradually and at a rate consistent with their skills, age and level of maturation.

Activities at level-3 of the pyramid include flexibility and muscle fitness activities. Children can begin performing these activities at a developmentally appropriate level, but long training sessions with high level overload are inappropriate and often decrease, rather than increase interest in physical activity.

Mild stretching exercises and moderate overload activities such as age appropriate callisthenic exercises are often used with children but should not be overemphasized.

Long periods of inactivity are inappropriate for children. For this reason, it is important that children have several play periods in the form of recess or physical education daily and that they have opportunities to be active before and after school.