Exercise helps keep excess pounds at bay on a regular basis. Additionally, it offers so many other benefits. Regular exercise can lower blood pressure, reduce heart disease risk, and keep joints stronger and less prone to pain and inflammation, according to experts.
Physical activities are exercises, but not all exercises are physical activities. Keep reading to learn about the key differences between exercise and physical activity.
Muscle contraction is defined as physical activity. Physical activity can be anything that involves any part of the body that we do every single day. All of these activities each day – brushing our teeth, doing the dishes, sweeping the floor, watering our plants, typing at our computers, driving our cars, carrying grocery bags – involve physical activity.
Exercise, on the other hand, is a certain form of physical activity that is done with the purpose of a fitness or any other health benefit, such as reduced blood pressure and improved joint mobility. Some popular examples of exercise include cycling, swimming, jogging, lifting weights, and playing tennis.
Exercise can be anything from a strenuous run to a contemplative stroll. Others are not planned and purposeful, despite the fact that they are physical activities.
Furthermore, when it comes to intensity, a huge amount of the physical activities we do on a regular basis are moderate. A physical exercise must be vigorous enough to raise both heart and respiration rates, making your heart beat faster and causing you to inhale faster and deeper before it can be considered a kind of exercise rather than just a simple physical activity.
A certain amount of time must be spent performing physical activity before it can be recognized as exercise, according to experts. For example, anyone who is exercising should try to keep the activity going for at least 15 to 20 minutes. For optimum benefit, this allows the individual to reach his or her desired heart rate.
Nevertheless, it is typically not enough to increase both heart and respiratory rates significantly, therefore a simple physical exercise like dusting a shelf or folding laundry may take just a few minutes.
When it comes to the intensity of physical activity, how can one tell if it is something that may be classified as a type of exercise? If you have to come to a halt after saying a few words because you need to catch your breath, you may know that you are getting your dose of exercise. But, if physical exercise allows you to talk while you exercise without difficulty, it isn’t providing you with enough exercise.
In addition, depending on the individual’s fitness level, what is considered mild for one may be seen as vigorous for the other. For example, after just 5 minutes of walking, a person who is generally used to leading a sedentary life might be winded, but that isn’t enough for someone who is very fit.