Health Encyclopedia

Author: Siegfried Merz
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: The Best Advice for a Healthy Life, Healthy Lifestyle, Principles of Staying Healthy, How to Become a Healthy Person, Physical and Mental Health, Healthy Eating, Healthy Medication Use, Healthy Travel. A must-have guide for healthy living for children, adults, and the elderly. Treat exercise as a measure to prevent diseases. Numerous scientific studies have proven that exercise training for maintaining good physical condition can improve health and extend lifespan. There are many reasons:
● Targeted endurance training can strengthen the heart muscle and slow down the resting pulse rate. As a result, the body's oxygen demand is met with fewer heartbeats, and the heart is accordingly protected.
● Endurance training can improve abnormal blood lipid levels. This reduces the risk of atherosclerosis and lowers the risk of peripheral artery obstruction and myocardial infarction in the future.
● Endurance training can lower blood sugar levels.
● Endurance training can reduce blood pressure, especially benefiting mild hypertension.
● Endurance exercise can reduce the release of stress hormones in the body, lowering heart rate and extending the interval between heartbeats.
● Endurance training reduces stress, improves sleep, and enhances concentration.
● Blood circulation is improved, allowing better oxygen delivery. The heart muscle requires less oxygen, reducing the risk of myocardial infarction.
How Beginners Should Conduct Exercise Training
A good physical condition cannot be "made up for later." Those who start running hastily, without any preparation, to quickly remedy past mistakes, put their lives at risk. First, a health check-up is necessary before exercise training, including an electrocardiogram and pulmonary function tests. After that, a personalized training plan should be tailored to individual circumstances, and only gradually improve exercise performance. However, even each individual endurance training session should be conducted systematically: First, a 5 to 10-minute warm-up phase to gradually activate the circulatory system and metabolism. Then, maintain the previously calculated target heart rate for about 20 minutes. Next, gradually slow down your exercise speed. In the meantime, if you feel out of breath, don't stop abruptly. Instead, continue exercising or perform arm circles. This gives the heart a chance to gradually adjust to a lower heart rate.
What Is a "Healthy" Diet? Confusing Dietary Advice
What exactly is a "healthy diet"? There are plenty of suggestions and ideas about this today. However, those who look for advice on what they should eat best in health manuals, health magazines, or radio and television programs often find themselves overwhelmed: Dietary advice from different sources varies greatly and is often contradictory. In the past, people were recommended a diet that was clearly (vegetarian-leaning). However, it gradually became clear that a significant portion of the population could not tolerate raw plant foods and grains, as they might have allergic reactions. Later, the media heavily promoted the "Eskimo special diet," but this diet actually had no role for vegetables and dietary fiber. Some "nutrition authorities" believe that grains with little processing are particularly