Call for your Health

As people attain a level of fitness that meets their needs and further improvement is not desired, the program switches from developing fitness to maintaining it. At this point the principles of overload and progression may be set aside, but both are necessary for the improvement phase of fitness. Overload involves subjecting the body to unaccustomed stress. Challenging the body to periodically accept a slightly increased level of work forces it to adapt by attaining a higher level of fitness. When to impose each new challenge involves the principle of progression. The workload is increased only when the exerciser is ready to accept a new challenge. For aerobic exercise, target heart rate and/or perceived exertion may be used to establish criteria for scheduling the progression of exercise. For example, if you jog, swim, or cycle a certain distance, the exercise heart rate will decrease over time as your body adapts to training. When the exercise heart rate drops to a predetermined level, you should adjust the pace and/or distance to return to the original target zone.

The principle of specificity of training suggests that the body adapts according to the specific type of stress placed on it. The muscles involved in any activity are the ones that adapt, and they do so in the specific way in which they are used. For example, jogging prepares you for jogging but is poor preparation for cycling. Cycling does not prepare you for swimming. Although all these activities stress the cardiorespiratory system, they are sufficiently different that there is little fitness carryover among them.

The principle of specificity is particularly important for competitive athletes. Competitors attempt to maximize the returns from their training effort; therefore runners must train by running, swimmers must swim, and cyclists must cycle. The focus is on maximal improvement in one activity so that the body is trained in a specific manner. This locks athletes into regimented training programs, but people who exercise for health reasons are not under such constraints. They can vary activities and prevent the boredom of participating in the same activity week after week. Cycling, jogging, swimming, racquetball, cross country skiing, and weight training may be used in any combination or order for the development of physical fitness. This is the essence of cross training. Not only does cross training relieve boredom, it may reduce the incidence of injury because the same muscles are not being stressed in the same way during every workout.

Cross training has many advantages and is an excellent technique for attaining the health benefits of exercise. Variety, the major attraction of cross training, can also be a disadvantage. By participating in many different activities, you seldom become proficient in anyone. However, if the objective is health enhancement, proficiency is incidental.

Identifying goals provides some direction for the activities selected and the way the principles of exercise are to be manipulated to increase the probability of success. Only one or two major goals should be selected, and these should be as specific as possible so that an effective exercise program may be devised. Activities, objectives, and principles must match.

When you have identified the objectives and know what you wish to achieve from the exercise program, the means for sustaining the program must be identified next. The resolve to exercise is shakiest during the early stages of the program, usually because people push untrained bodies beyond their limits. This results in sore muscles, stiffness, and possible injury. The drop out rate is highest in the beginning of any exercise program. The irony is that the greatest return for the effort is attained during this phase.

Pregnancy is something that many people take for granted. While most teenagers try desperately to avoid getting pregnant, others – like newlyweds – can think of nothing better for them. In cases where the partners have normal physical attributes, becoming pregnant requires little more than having the sperm and the eggs in the right place at the right time. This is a bit oversimplified of course, but the biological realty is that reproduction has been going on since the dawn of time with little knowledge of the actual mechanics of the act itself. It’s as simple a need as breathing or eating.

In many cases, however, when partners can’t become pregnant, the reasons can be distressing and hard to overcome. One partner may have problems with their reproductive system due to previous health complications; in fact according to research by the Centers for Disease Control, an estimated 6.1 million women were infertile in the United States. Many couples seek outside, professional help when they’re having trouble conceiving a pregnancy. Some pregnancy health insurance programs may provide for such circumstances. Therapists can help with the physical and emotional distress that many of these couples go through when they find they’re having trouble conceiving. In many cases, the problem can be rectified with simple medical aid such as fertility drugs or reproductive surgery procedures. Many of these procedures – while simple – can unfortunately, cost many thousands of dollars.

Once all the working parts are in order, though, there’s no real reason why a couple can’t become pregnant by going through all the necessary motions and hoping for the best. The male can improve their chances of conceiving by taking drugs or natural supplements that contribute to the motility (strength) of his sperm. In this way, his sperm will have a better chance of making it to the female’s egg and creating a baby. Certain periods of the month are also better for the female to allow her body to conceive. By recognizing exactly when these periods are, the chances of the couple becoming pregnant will be greatly increased.

All young persons require high calorie diet to make up for the energy expended in games, studies and other exercises. They require strong muscles, bones, eye-sight, good digestion and flexible joints. Their diet should be a balanced blend of Vitamins, Minerals, Cereals, high fibres, green vegetables, ripe fruits, proteins, carbohydrates, dairy and poultry foods. Give them a glass of whole milk daily, with some fresh/ripe fruits, or else juices of fruits and vegetables. Their diet should be rich in whole wheat/grain flour, soybeans, pulses, fats, eggs, fish etc. Every effort should be made that growing children are never starved of a nutritionally balanced diet. Children should never be encouraged to have a preferred fascination [or fast foods, fried foods, spicy and cooked foods or, for that matter, any food which is sold in the food jaunts. If the young ones are served the sort of food they seek outside in their own homes, there would be two advantages-firstly there shall not be any doubt as to the purity of the food served, and secondly it would be cost effective also, and finally the children and parents will have the satisfaction of having their meals together, with other members of their family. This togetherness is a boon and tonic [or the entire family. Modern life style and faulty habits have rendered our horne kitchens as barren places, for being used in emergent times/occasions only. Let us revive the culture of home kitchen and dinning table culture. Often change your food menus so that element of monotony is ruled out. Let the growing young people enjoy a wholesome and nutritious diet with their elders. Kitchen garden culture is a welcome device-it gives everybody a chance for gardening (which is an exercise), [or procuring fresh and pure fruits and vegetables, it will bring down kitchen bill and will meet choosy and selective likings of many of the members (if not of all) of the family. Nature has innumerable foods to satiate demands of the persons, and the farther we go away from the lap of Nature and fail to utilise and enjoy its riches, the nearer we reach to calamitous and terminal ends of our lives.

Finally, parents should not apply draconian rules to their children, who should be allowed occasional food deviations also. Always avoid a repulsive, rebound and reactionary situations. An unfriendly kitchen and an imposed food monotony is often the basic cause of break-up of many joint family kitchens. So, ensure good health of all, through satisfactory food from a common kitchen, to satiate even choosy taste buds.