Run for Your Life: The Health Benefits of Treadmills

Improve your heart’s health? Lose a few pounds? Or simply become more active? If that is your goal, then maybe it’s time for you to do some exercise. But where do you start?

No matter how good our intentions are, we really can’t force ourselves to commute three or four times a week to the gym. What with our hectic lifestyles, increased work loads, and various other commitments, we simply don’t have such luxury as time. As a result, our exercise routines suffer, which, of course, points only to one thing – our health.

For this reason, Americans, young and old alike, are trying to search for solutions to their exercise dilemma. They are looking for specifically one that will fit into their demanding schedules yet still afford them with a quality workout with positive results. The answer, of course, is the ever-present treadmill. 

Scientific Facts

Experts agree that physical activity need not be strenuous in order to be beneficial. In fact, only moderate amounts of daily physical activity are recommended for people of all ages. Too much can lead to injuries, menstrual abnormalities, and bone weakening.

• Among American youths aged 12-21 years, almost half admit to not being vigorously active on a regular basis 
• 14 % of young people report that they engage in no recent physical activity 
• This inactivity trend is more common among females (14%) than among males (7%). Among black females, 21% are inactive, while white females only comprise 12%. 
• As age or grade in school increases, participation in all types of physical activity declines strikingly 
• Of all high school students, only 19% are physically active for 20 minutes or more, five days a week, in physical education class 
• Between 1991 and 1995, daily enrollment in physical education classes dropped form 42 percent to 25 percent 
• Well designed school-based interventions directed at increasing physical activity in physical education classes have been shown to be effective 
• Social support from family and friends has been consistently and positively related to regular physical activity

Though not the be-all and end-all of everything, engaging in physical activity does have effects that can be very beneficial to your health. First, it helps build and maintain healthy bones, muscles and joints. Not only that, but it has a direct effect on weight control, building lean muscles, and fat reduction. Physical activity can also prevent or delay the development of high blood pressure and helps reduce blood pressure in some adolescents with hypertension.

 

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