World
Health Organisation (WHO) defines health as a state of complete physical,
mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or
infirmity. But what influences health? It is assumed that the most important
factor that affects our health is lifestyle, then physical environment, genetic
predisposition and healthcare services. The most significant constituents of
the lifestyle are: rational, balanced diet and physical activity.
It is
commonly believed that diet is some sort of agenda telling us what to eat and
in what amount in order to lose weight. Due to that, ‘diet’ is very pejorative
word with negative connotation. Everybody hearing the word, imagine enormous sacrifice. Meanwhile, ‘diet’
means customary kind of nutrition in particular society and culture.
Restricting the meaning of the word only to slimming diet is incorrect.
Second
constituent of our lifestyle is physical activity. It is defined as any bodily
movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure. Physical
activity is a factor that strongly influences our health. The presence of
physical activity and its amount in our everyday life will have a profound
effect on the functioning of our body and its vulnerability to the so-called
lifestyle diseases such as: diabetes, obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular
diseases etc. To put it bluntly, sedentary lifestyle causes many different
diseases.
Physical
activity must be pursued self-consciously and
it should be based on the care for your body. Significant here is the
ability to organise and spend your time with the benefits for your mental and
physical health. Physical recreation fosters relaxation and body regeneration.
It is a pleasurable way of spending our free time. For majority of people
physical activity takes form of physical recreation.
The
influence of physical activity and diet on health and body functioning is enormously significant. I
invite you to follow my blog, where I will present many detailed articles on
this subject matter.
Photos come from www.foter.com
MA Rafał Bytomski
MA Anna
Spalik-Bytomska