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| NEERAJ MEHTA |
How walking,
or running helps women
Regular (Aerobic and Anaerobic) exercise is a powerful
medicine that helps mitigate virtually all the negative changes women
experience at midlife and beyond.
First we need to understand, the response of running
is in human body. When you do running, the cardiovascular system provides rapid
regulation of heart rate and effective distribution of blood in the vascular
circuit. This maintains blood pressure and followed by enhancing the metabolic
process.
It is good if a female add brisk walking or running
in her life style. It is advisable that women should jog or run, at least 3
times for 20 minutes, a week. High impact aerobic / fast running is the root
cause of injuries, so one need to listen to the body, before starting any
fitness program or challenge, but yes challenge will give more benefits. One
can go for interval training in running that will increase cardiovascular
endurance and muscle endurance.
When one run for a longer duration, after some time
when the body gets tired, we start dragging one foot, lead to cause knee
injury.
You need to find a comfortable balance between
movements. It is necessary to understand the biomechanics of your body, and when
you run or jog on any surface or treadmill, you try to run with the balance of
your feet lateral edge so you will not get any strain on the ligaments of your
knees.
Aerobic exercise decreases both physical and
mental symptoms of PMS (Premenstrual Syndrome). Follow two main,
commonsence cautions: not running to the point of breathlessness or getting
overheated.
Walking /Aerobic exercise will helps to decrease
the challenges during Menopause and Per- menopause, relieves negative
symptoms such as anxiety and depression, improves cardiovascular fitness.
In Pregnancy, brisk walking, low impact aerobic
exercise build and maintain heart and lung capacity and endurance. It is a
good choice for the women who are previously inactive. Avoid fast running that
have serious risks of falling or any other abdominal extreme contraction which
is not at all good for fetus even. Running in general reduces labor pain and
other pregnancy associated medical problems. Follow same, commonsence cautions.
Brisk
walking / Running is one of the best stress busters, strengthen your heart, keep your arteries clear, boost
your mood, and stay active and independent as you age.
Basic physiological
and physical changes in a women body, resulting from running or brisk walking:
Reduced
body fat content
Increased
blood supply to muscles
Increased
muscle mass (with strength cardio-conditioning)
Reduced
serum lipids (cholesterol and triglycerides) from blood
Reduced
resting heart rate.
The
lungs increased maximal oxygen uptake.
Increased
blood supply to heart muscle.
Increased
glucose tolerance.
Reduced
strain resulting from psychological stress.
Reduced risk of arteriosclerosis.
Written
by Neeraj Mehta (Fitness Expert and Director of GFFI Fitness Academy)
Aerobic
training involves use of oxygen during
exercise and is done over a long period of time at a low intensity. The need
for oxygen is high, with involuntary breathing and this supply of oxygen meets
the energy demands for cardiovascular exercises such as walking, jogging,
marathon, dancing. During this process
we are certainly burning calories and end up losing weight along with fat
but at the same time we also lose a lot of muscle. Consequently it leaves us
with the dreaded issue of sagging skin. This happens because during the first
ten to fifteen minutes of any aerobic exercise our bodies use glycogen stores
and approximately after 20 minutes of exercise our bodies start breaking down
fat cells (stored in adipose tissues of our bodies) for energy. Hence for a
visible fat loss to take place this process could be very long and also we will
realize that the overall calories burned are five times much lesser than if we
were to intensely exercise and put our muscles to maximum use for the same
duration as the cardio. 
