Running on all fours with a baby, hurrying to catch the bus, bathing in the fresh water of the lake, playing ball with the children, dancing, climbing ten steps, taking a walk after a meal, pushing the grocery cart, picking up leaves in the fall, and even brushing your teeth is physical activity .
The human body likes activity because it is not made to live sitting down; he even often cries out his impatience with pains of tension. Providing it with varied opportunities to move will make it a “happy body” 1 .
Physical activity can be a great source of pleasure! To be convinced of this and experience it, you have to remove from your mind all the unpleasant images (for yourself) with which you may have associated physical effort. Are the gyms getting you down? Do not go. Do you hate promiscuity? Forget aerobics classes. Are you bored alone? Jogging is not for you. Shortness of breath making you panic? You can very well avoid it.
If your “active” activities give you pleasure , you will win on all counts. And when you’re fit, everyday activities – like taking out the trash or washing windows – are much less strenuous.
Exercise to relax
Moving with gusto is a natural way to stimulate the phenomenon called the “relaxation response.” Symptoms of anxiety (dry mouth, rapid heart rate, increased blood pressure, etc.) are attributable to excessive activity of the sympathetic branch of the nervous system, known as the “accelerator”. However, physical activity stimulates and strengthens the parasympathetic branch of the nervous system, known as “the brake”. As Dr. David Servan-Schreiber writes in Guérir : “Since the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems are always in opposition, the more one stimulates the parasympathetic, the more it strengthens, like a developing muscle, and it simply blocks the manifestations anxiety. » 2
We also know that a good diet helps the body better manage physiological stress reactions; however, people who are physically active naturally tend to choose more nutritious foods 3 .
Physical exercise good for morale
Among followers of energetic physical activity such as joggers, the following fact is well known: after 15 to 30 minutes of sustained effort, the mind reaches a slightly euphoric state where thoughts are spontaneously positive and even creative. The phenomenon is attributable to hormones called endorphins which are released in the body during exercise. In a chapter explaining the effect of endorphins, Dr. David Servan-Schreiber asserts that this phenomenon does not wear off over time: “The more the natural mechanism of pleasure is stimulated [in this way], the more it seems become sensitive. And people who exercise regularly derive more pleasurelittle things in life: their friends, their cat, their meals, their books, the smile of a passer-by in the street. » 4
Research shows that exercise can be as effective, if not more so, than medication in treating depression 5-9 . The dosage of activity matters – both in intensity, duration and frequency – too much is not better than not enough. The consensus among researchers seems to be that 20 minutes at medium intensity, three times a week, is enough to achieve an effect on the part of the brain that modulates mood 10 .
Sport makes you lose weight!
Weight is like a bank account: when you put down (calories in), it goes up, when you take out (calories out), it goes down. However, our metabolism has developed over thousands of years when humans were very active; as we still eat every day, the only way to avoid weight gain is to “work out”. In fact, the more physical activity you do , the more you can eat without gaining weight. Research with obese postmenopausal women found that regular moderate-intensity activity was an effective way to lose weight . The walk (of
But there is better: aerobic activity (with increased heart rate) allows you to lose weight without having to significantly reduce calorie intake, provided that you practice it diligently. It is that such a practice transforms the body into a “burner”: the body then increases the rate at which it burns calories, not only during the activity itself, but all the rest of the time (according, of course , duration and intensity of activity) 12 .
Moving allows you to have more tone
The belief of being “too tired” to go for a walk (or skate, swim, etc.) is based on a misperception. Because humans who eat their fill have, in their accumulated fat, an almost inexhaustible reserve of energy , at least to indulge in low-intensity activities 13 . This kind of “fatigue” is more a matter of nervous tension, that is to say stress. However, the benefits of physical activity are also immediate: 15 to 20 minutes of physical exerciseprecisely relieve stress and fatigue, and increase energy. Let’s just mention that by ensuring a better circulation of oxygen, exercise frees the body from “sand in the gears”, such as mental heaviness and muscular tension.
Sport is beneficial for sexuality
The quality of sexual life depends in particular on general health, the ability to relax and a certain cardiovascular endurance, three factors on which physical activity plays an essential role. It takes energy to make love (even to want to make love) and an active life gives energy!
