Final answer:
Increasing physical activity is strongly associated with enhancing healthy behaviors, leading to numerous benefits like reduced disease risks, improved cardiovascular and muscular fitness, better cognitive function, and mental health improvements. Following the HHS's Physical Activity Guidelines can lead to substantial benefits and increase life quality. Physical exercise includes activities that maintain or enhance physical fitness, such as daily chores, in addition to structured workouts.
Step-by-step explanation:
Enhancing Healthy Behaviors with Physical Activity
Factors that have been strongly associated with enhancing healthy behaviors, such as increasing physical activity, include various motivational and environmental aspects. For instance, caregivers using strollers exemplify active behaviors to their children, which can encourage regular exercise from a young age. Regular physical activity brings numerous health benefits, such as reducing the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and Type 2 diabetes. It also contributes to improving cardiovascular and muscular fitness, bone density, and cognitive function, assisting in weight management and fostering better mental health by reducing stress and improving self-esteem.
Increased physical activity also enhances one's quality of life and life expectancy. The production of myokines from contracting muscles during exercise promotes tissue repair and growth and has anti-inflammatory effects, which also contribute to better cardiovascular health and offer protection against cognitive decline and depression. Following the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), adults are recommended to engage in a mix of moderate- to vigorous-intensity aerobic activity totaling at least 150 to 300 minutes per week, plus muscle-strengthening activities on two or more days each week for added benefits.
Physical activity can take many forms, including workouts, household chores, and playing sports. All of these activities can help maintain physical fitness and good health, demonstrating the overwhelming evidence supporting the importance of being active rather than sedentary.