Are you physically fit?

The human body, which is a machine, requires regular maintenance from many categories to be able to perform at its optimum levels. Many of the bodies needs are tied up in moving the body around. Physical fitness is the ability of your body’s organs to perform at their highest level of efficiency. Your heart, vascular system, lungs and muscles are the primary organs that provide for this efficiency.

Physical fitness used to be measured by being able to complete a day's activities. That doesn’t work anymore; more and more people are leading sedentary lives reducing the activity needed during the day. Now the term is defined as the body's ability to function efficiently at work and at play, to be healthy, to be able to act in an emergency and not to succumb to sedentary diseases (obesity and issues caused by obesity).

There are many categories of fitness; aerobic fitness, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition. When most of us talk about getting in better shape, we automatically think of jogging, walking, running or biking. It wasn't until the past 10 years that yoga, Pilates, spinning and aerobic classes started entering into our description of a successful fitness program. Today, there are numerous healthy aerobic activities to help you get in better shape. Even cleaning the house will cause you to burn 246 calories per hour!

Why should you become physically fit?
Because the benefits are well worth the effort! Physical Fitness provides us with:

• General feeling of being healthier
• Strengthens our heart
• Increases the efficiency of our lungs
• Helps with diseases like asthma
• Strengthens our immune system
• Helps to maintain a desired weight
• Allows us to be more alert and ready to work
• Provides us the strength to meet the physical challenges of the day

Exercise also improves one mental state and self esteem, improves bowl movements, and reduces stress. But remember, a healthy diet is not about weight loss, it is about gaining good health for the optimum performance of your body functions.