Edited by Doctor Marcello Serra
About 9% of the Italian population is afflicted by obesity, a third is overweight, over 20% smokes.
Obesity, overweight and smoking are risk factors that can be removed by adopting correct lifestyles and consequently leading to a significant reduction in the incidence of the most widespread and serious diseases.
To prevent it means implementing a whole series of actions aimed at eliminating or minimizing the occurrence of situations that are harmful, or in any case dangerous for both people, animals and things.
In the health field, with prevention we mean the set of actions aimed at maintaining or improving the state of health, therefore aimed at anticipating the onset of a certain type of pathology, or at treating its effects, or at limiting its damage.
There are in fact three levels of prevention:
- Primary: avoids or contrasts the onset of a pathology
- Secondary: it is linked to the early diagnosis of a nascent pathology
- Tertiary: cures and reduces the "damage" produced by a pathology, limiting complications.
Examples of prevention at various levels:
- Primary prevention: carrying out a healthy and regular physical activity, combined with a "balanced diet from both a qualitative and quantitative point of view
- Secondary prevention: start practicing physical activity and having a correct diet, because the body weight is now too high and it is difficult to climb a flight of stairs or to tie your shoes
- Tertiary prevention: practicing physical activity because prescribed by the doctor, who has found, for example, an "arterial hypertension. So movement as a" rehabilitative "and preventive therapy against any recurrence.
Countless studies have shown how important physical exercise is for the well-being of the body and mind.
The importance of the movement has been noticed in recent decades, during which the trend of "bad eating and social habits" - a consequence of "Welfare" modern - has progressively led to a real pandemic.
As a result of all this, the apparently improved quality of life has actually deteriorated!
this is why - as a personal trainer and as a parent - I feel a responsibility to work in the best possible way to promote health with a high level of quality.
The personal trainer, as an expert in movement, can and must play a fundamental role in the preventive field, placing his attention and skills at the disposal of those who want to improve their state of health and psycho-physical well-being.
It is always the personal trainer who, through movement, must become a health promoter, where per health promotion means:
'the process that allows people to exercise greater control over their health and improve it " (according to the "Ottawa Charter" - signed by the States belonging to the "World Health Organization).
But what are the benefits that regular physical activity can produce?
Among the many, here are some of the most relevant:
- At the cardiovascular level
- Improves heart function: the cavities (atria and ventricles) increase, the walls become thicker and stronger, so the heart pumps more blood with each contraction
- The resistance of the vessels at the peripheral level is reduced, with important improvements in both diastolic and systolic pressure
- Improves the exchange, transport and use of oxygen
- Helps prevent cardiovascular diseases, such as arterial hypertension, stroke, coronary heart disease, cardiomyopathies
- At the musculoskeletal level
- Improves strength, muscle trophism and flexibility
- Improves coordination, balance and reduces the risk of falls
- Improve the perception of the self
- Delays the onset of osteoporosis and slows its progress
- At the level of metabolism and body composition
- Increases muscle mass, a metabolically active part, and consequently also energy expenditure in 24 hours
- When combined with a correct diet, physical activity affects the fat reserves and reduces them
- Prevents metabolic diseases, such as diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome *.
* "At risk of metabolic syndrome" is defined as the condition of people who have three or more of the following symptoms associated with them:
> body mass index (relationship between weight and height: weight (kg) / height (meters) 2) above 30
> waist greater than 102 cm for men and 88 cm for women
> arterial hypertension greater than 130 (maximum) and 90 (minimum)
> fasting blood glucose above 110 mg / dl (100 mg / dl according to the ADA)
> cholesterol levels higher than 200 mg / dl
> triglycerides above 150 mg / dl
- On a psychological level
- Exercise guarantees emotional benefits, increasing energy and strengthening the optimistic outlook on life and positive self-image
- Reduces the levels of stress and nervous tension
- Promotes and enhances night rest
So, to boost your health, what better way to exercise regularly and make radical and lasting changes to your lifestyle?
To see it it would seem an idyllic landscape, in which everything is easy and linear, but it is not.
In fact, if practiced in the right way, and perhaps under the guidance of a movement professional, physical activity can be considered an investment in the present and in the future, regardless of age. It is obvious that the sooner you start, the better.
At the same time, if practiced intermittently, disorderly or in excess, it could be a source of injuries.
C "it must also be said that training done with all the criteria and under the supervision of a personal coach does not protect us from injuries, but certainly exposes us in a more limited way to such occurrences, so much so that if we were to put on a balances the benefits and risks of physical activity, the needle would hang clearly on the side of the former.
In conclusion, I believe it is a duty for each individual - young, adult, elderly, man or woman - to take a positive attitude towards any form of movement and healthy lifestyle. Of course it is up to us parents to initiate our children to physical activity and above all to lead by example, practicing it in the first person.
