As it is widely known, heart disease is the number one killer anywhere in the world. Usually, heart disease is attributed to be caused by obesity and having high blood pressure. However, what is not widely known is that obesity and high blood pressure can be both traced to
sedentarism.
Sedentarism is not a physical condition per se but, rather, a lifestyle that more or less can lead to obesity and high blood pressure. In a nutshell, sedentarism is a term applied by sociologists to people who doesn’t engage much in physical activities in the context of having a healthy and fit body.
To avoid getting heart disease as a result of having a sedentary lifestyle, it is important to know some of the myths and erroneous beliefs that may further lead to sedentarism if taken as truth.
1. People past 50 should not engage in strenuous physical activities anymore.
A lot of people tend to slow down and cut down their physical activities once they hit the magic number of 50. A lot of people in this age group are afraid to push their bodies like they used to when they were younger as cramps and aches of all sorts may be occurring more often. It doesn’t have to be really that strenuous as a 30-minute brisk walking would be enough to
fight sedentarism. As they say, specially, on the golden years, a little exercise is still better than no exercise at all.
2. Going to the gym costs money.
One of the reasons a lot of people lead a sedentary lifestyle is that gym membership is hard to maintain in the long run. Well-known fitness gyms have exorbitant annual fees on top of a monthly fee plus gym accessories that go along with it can really just hurt the pocket. It is not a necessity to be enrolled in a gym to have a healthy body. One can always improvise. Biking 45 minutes a day for 6 days is a good exercise program which can burn 2000 Kcal. 2000 Kcal is currently the benchmark of fitness gurus when creating a program on how much energy to burn on a per week basis. Doing a little research on the trends in fitness and what are the benefits of certain activities like biking, jogging, rowing, swimming can do to the metabolism of the body can surely give an idea what one can do if one is really serious in staying fit without going to the gym.
3. The gym is a business outfit first and foremost.
For some people, they view the gym as an avenue of siphoning out their hard-earned money just to make them sweat. In a sense, it sounds that way as the gyms do really charge fees but what others don’t see is that the gym is there for the convenience of the members. State-of-the-art equipments, personalized fitness trainers, steam baths, yoga, Pilates and current trends in healthy living could all be found in big-name gyms. Health should not have a price attached to it or seen in terms of money but to get one’s money’s worth is that at least one can see results that the fitness program given to one, like, if it’s a weight gain or weight loss should at least be hitting the mark. For people seeing the gym as a money grabbing outfit, more or less, lead sedentary lives or have been to the gym before and did not get their intended purposes.
4. Having a job ensures against sedentarism.
Unless one is an athlete, this erroneous belief should apply to anyone whose job is just behind a desk. Getting a job is not a guarantee in
avoiding sedentarism as preoccupation is different from doing an actual physical activity. An accountant may argue that he doesn’t need big biceps to do his job like a professional gymnast does but still the fact remains that sitting all day behind a desk despite busy poring out facts and figures still doesn’t raise metabolic energy inside the body to burn those excess fats; and hence still may lead to sedentarism even though preoccupied.
5. Active lifestyle is reserved for the physically attractive persons only.
To a lot of people not gifted with good physical attributes like smooth skin, proportioned nose and a pleasant face just really develops to a lack of confidence leading to personal isolation and lack of social skills. Not getting gifted by a handsome or beautiful face should not be a
cause of sedentarism as this should be all the more reason to hit the gym. The face, except for plastic surgery, cannot be changed drastically but the tone of the body is a different matter. Anyone can have great abs or those v-shaped torsos as long as they have the will to do it and anyone who can pull them off can somehow even the playing field for men while women with tight and lean bodies can always make a naturally beautiful woman feel insecure.
