MY SCHOOL by Dr .Nilesh Gopal das Joshi (beginner reading books for adults .txt) 📕

fruits and sufficient quantity of vegetables, along with eggs, bread, rice and pulses. Good hygiene and health habits

Another important factor of physical fitness is good hygiene and health habits of an individual. Its foundation is to be laid early in life. Therefore, awareness of the importance of good health habits must be developed among children from their very childhood.

Children should develop the habit of washing their hands clean, especially before and after their meals and after the use of lavatory. It is because the hands come in contact with disease germs more than any other part of the body. The children should also learn to keep their body clean, otherwise it becomes susceptible to infection. Health habits and hygiene cover the total lifestyle of an individual.

Avoidance of drugs and alcohol

For physical fitness, avoidance of harmful substances like alcohol, tobacco, drugs etc. is a must. Their intake adversely affects both the body and the mind. Even small consumption of alcohol affects the neuro-muscular system in the body. And its excessive use is most harmful to the person concerned. Similar is the case with smoking. Tobacco smoke contains certain very harmful chemicals which have a very bad effect on the person’s health. Regular smoking may cause lung cancer and cancer of mouth, tongue and throat. Drug addiction is far more harmful than drinking or smoking. It has a devastating effect on both the health and personality of drug addicts. So, the intake of all these harmful substances must be avoided for maintaining physical fitness.

Proper rest and sleep

Rest is very helpful in removing fatigue. Rest gives some time for relaxation to the part or system of the body that has been doing strenuous work. Rest may be brought about by lying down or sitting comfortably. Due to rest, the body organs get an opportunity to work properly at a normal speed. So rest is an important factor for physical fitness.

Sleep may be called rest for a longer time. During sleep, the body rests and a good deal of blood goes to the blood vessels. This makes the body fresh again for further physical exercises and activities. Thus, both rest and sleep are of great importance in maintaining physical fitness.

Freedom from tension

Tension is anxiety or worry of any type. It may be due to home conditions, social situations or vocational causes. Pressure of desired achievement in competitions may also be a cause of worry. Tension of any kind does not let an individual give his/her best performance. If tension is allowed to persist, it may have an adverse effect on the physical fitness of the person. So tension or stresses should be eliminated for maintaining physical fitness.

Regular exercise

Regular exercise keeps muscles, heart and lungs in good working order. There are a big number of exercises, but just three basic kinds of them are necessary for physical fitness. These are:

Aerobic exercises Stretchers and Stregtheners Aerobic exercises are those which strengthen the heart and lungs. Muscles need oxygen and feed it into the blood. Heart pumps the blood through the arteries and veins of the circulatory system delivering oxygen to every muscle in the body. Blood also carries food to the muscles. In this way, every organ and tissue of the body receives a healthy supply of food and oxygen.

For strengthening heart and lungs, running, jogging, rope skipping, swimming, bicycling, football, basketball and hockey are all aerobic activities. Dancing and walking long distances are also aerobic exercises. An hour of brisk walking is as good to most persons as 15 minutes of jogging. So in physical fitness programme aerobic exercises should occupy a proper place. It will keep the heart and lungs in good condition. Exercises combined with dieting help a person get rid of excess fat.

Stretchers: Sitting for a long time at a desk or bench stiffens the neck and shoulder muscles. Similarly, long muscles in legs, back and both sides of the body, between the hips and armpits, tend to tighten-up when idle. Stretching exercises are very useful for removing stiffness. These exercises done regularly improve posture, muscle-tone and over-all fitness. Besides reducing muscle tension. Yogic exercises are best examples of good stretchers.

Some other popular stretching exercises are Bend and Sway. With feet apart and hands on hips, bend the body to the left. Then, bend the body back as far as possible. After that bend it to the right and then forward. Bend it to the left again and repeat. With these exercises, muscles will stretch on both sides of the body. From the same stretching position as discussed, sway from one side to the other. Extending the arms high above the head is also beneficial. In addition to this, raising or lowering of arms benefits the shoulders.

Strengtheners: There are many good exercises that build muscles. But, strengtheners put a different demand on muscles from stretchers. Another important principle is “the more slowly one moves, the greater the benefit”. A few examples of strengthening exercises are sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups etc.

Sit-up is an exercise in which there is an act of rising from lying on back position to a sitting position. It strengthens the back muscles. Push-up is an exercise on parallel bars, in which the body is supported by the bent arms and raised for strengthening them. In pull-up, the body is pulled up by means of an overhead bar, held by the hands, till the chin touches the bar. Pull-up strengthens the arms, shoulders, hands and wrists. All these exercises may be repeated till one is able to do them without pain.

Types and components of physical fitness

            Physical fitness can be classified into two.  They are health related physical fitness, skill related physical fitness and cosmetic fitness

Health related physical fitness(HRPF)

It is the power or capacity to live a full and efficient life that one is capable of being.  It includes cardiovascular fitness, strength, endurance, and flexibility.

Skill related physical fitness (SRPF)

This consists of those components of physical fitness that have a relationship with enhanced performance in sports and motor skills.  The components are commonly defined as speed, agility and co-ordination.        

Cosmetic fitness

It deals with prevention and remediation of disease and illness leading to a better quality of life. It is simply working out for the purpose of ‘looking fit’.                                                 

Physical fitness comprises the 3s- stamina, strength and suppleness.  One exercise can benefit more than one area.  For instance, jogging can improve your stamina and suppleness at the same time.  Most forms of sports, work, and recreational activities include elements of aerobic fitness.  A range of physical activities thus ensures total fitness.

Stamina – stamina or endurance involves the ability to sustain physical activity for prolonged periods. Generally speaking, any activity which lasts more than 1 minute is considered aerobic.  The term “aerobic” implies that the oxygen utilization by the body was the principle factor in accomplishing the task.

 

Strength – stronger muscles can mean either more powerful muscles that can do better jobs or muscles that will work longer before becoming exhausted.                Suppleness – our muscles are repeatedly shortened when they are used, especially when exercising. They need to be slowly and regularly stretched to counteract the repeated shortening.  This stretching results in suppleness or flexibility- the ability to move joints and muscles trough their full range of motion.

Components of physical fitness

Some of the major components of physical fitness are

Muscular strength – muscular strength is the power that help us to lift and carry heavy objects. Without muscular strength, your body would be weak and unable to keep up with the demands placed upon it. Muscular endurance – endurance is the ability of your muscles to perform contractions for extended periods of time. Rather than just lifting or carrying something for a few seconds, the muscles are used for minutes. Cardiovascular endurance – Cardiovascular endurance is our body’s ability to keep up with exercise like running, jogging, swimming, cycling and anything that forces our cardiovascular system (lungs, heart, and blood vessels) to work for extended periods of time. The cooper run (running as far as possible in 12 minutes) is a test commonly used to assess cardiovascular endurance, but many trainers use the step test (stepping onto a platform for 5 minutes).  Both are accurate measures for a subject’s cardiovascular endurance. Flexibility – flexibility is one of the most important components of physical fitness, without flexibility, the muscles and joints would grow stiff and movement would be limited. Flexibility training ensures that your body can move through its entire range of motion without pain or stiffness.  The sit and reach test (sitting on the floor and reaching towards your toes) is another good way to assess your flexibility.  The more flexible you are, the closer you will come to touching your toes and beyond. Speed – A skill related components of physical fitness that relate to the ability to perform a movement within a short period of time. Co-ordination – A skill related components of physical fitness that relate to the ability to use the senses, such as right and hearing, together with body parts in performing motor tasks smoothly and accurately. Body fat composition – Body fat composition refers to the amount of fat on your body. For example, a 100-pound person with a 25% body fat composition will have a lean body mass of 75 pounds.  To qualify as fit:          i) Men must have a body fat composition lower than 17 percent. ii) Women must have body fat composition lower than 24 percent. 

The average man tends to have about 18 to 24 percent body fat, while the average woman has 25 to31 percent body fat. 

Agility- Agility means the ability of an individual to change position in speed.

Factors Affecting Physical Fitness

Following factors play an important role in physical fitness of an individual:

Heredity Proper diet Regular Exercise Observance of natural laws Standard of living Nature of work Scientific way of training Good postures Proper rest and sleep. Freedom from stress. Humorous nature Environment

Principles of Physical Fitness development

Principle pf warming up before undertaking exercises. Principle of selection of right exercises. Principle of regularity in exercises. Principle of variety. Principle of progression- exercises of low-intensity to high-intensity. Principle of rest. Principle of specificity of exercise. Principle of selection of exercise on the basis of age and sex. Principle of medical check-up. Principle of overloading: Overloading is achieved through increase in intensity, frequency and duration. For instance, to achieve overload principle, distance runners gradually increase the time of exercise. As the load increases, the body acquires the capacity to bear that load and prepares for higher adaptation.

WELLNESS

The term wellness was first used by Halbert L. Dunn, who published a small booklet entitled ‘ High Level Wellness’ in 1965. According to Mickinley health Center, University of Illinois, wellness “is a state of optimal well-being that is oriented toward maximizing an individual’s potential. This is a lifelong process of moving towards enhancing your physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual and environmental well-being”.

The University of East Carolina defines wellness as “the integration of body, mind and spirit. Optimal wellness allows us to achieve our goals and find meaning and purpose in our lives. Wellness combines 7 dimensions of well-being into a quality way of living. Overall, wellness is the ability to live life to the fullest and to maximize personal potential in a variety of ways. Wellness involves continually learning and making changes to enhance your state of wellness. When we balance physical, intellectual, emotional, social, occupational, spiritual and environmental aspects of life, we achieve true wellness”.

According to Medilexicon’s medical dictionary, wellness is “ A philosophy of life and personal hygiene that views health as not merely he absence of illness but the full realization of one’s physical and mental potential, as achieved through positive attitude, fitness training, a diet low in fat and high in fiber, and the avoidance of unhealthful practices (smoking, drug and alcohol abuse, over eating)”.

Wellness is a term that has become extremely popular in recent years. Some say it is a state of mind that is experienced as tranquillity; others define wellness as a luxury life style concept associated with fitness. Most people define wellness a s simply” being physically well” most of the time. All inclusive, the generally accepted definition of wellness is to stay in good condition