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Can Playing Racquetball Really Make You Live Longer?
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Cardiovascular disease, in particular, is something that exercise can protect you from. Such activity causes your heart to work harder than it normally does. While this might tire you out at first, your body quickly adapts to the higher level of activity. It strengthens the heart and helps it pump blood through the body more efficiently. (This manifests itself in the form of a lower pulse and easier breathing when performing taxing physical activity.) Oxygen-rich blood travels to the brain and muscles more efficiently, improving your physical and mental performance.
The benefits of cardiovascular activity in this instance are synergistic. The heart of someone of who gets regular cardiovascular exercise is stronger than that of someone who doesn’t so, and is less likely to experience a heart attack. Exercise also boosts metabolism, burns fat, and lowers cholesterol, which decreases the likelihood of a heart attack or other cardiovascular problem occurring in the first place.
Of course, diet is important too. Eacardiovascular activitting unhealthy foods will negate much of the benefit of any exercise program or sport you enjoy (and will probably hinder your performance).
What’s the right amount of exercise?
Researchers at the National Cancer Institute pooled their data with that of other institutions to study how different amounts of exercise affect lifespan.
The review covered over 600,000 adults, the majority of whom were middle aged. After exhaustively going through all this data, they discovered that for most adults, the optimal amount of exercise appears to be 450 minutes per week, or around 1 hour per day.
This resulted in a 39 percent reduction in the risk of early death. The study showed that any amount of physical activity was better than nothing, but that one hour a day was the amount that offered the most benefits.
READ ALSO: Endless Benefits Of Sport Infographic
The bottom line is that you need to be active. Don’t spend your life just sitting around, working on the computer or passively absorbing entertainment, or it won’t be very long. It’s easier to stick with an exercise program if you enjoy it. Find an exercise or sport that clicks with you, and you can be assured of a longer, healthier life.
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