Today, the first Saturday of May, is National Fitness Day. Numerous activists have promoted fitness; one credited contributor was Kim Bielak, a life and career coach based in Los Angeles.
While it is essential to keep the fitness of our mind and body, counterintuitively, it is also critical for us to know that we are not aware of “doing exercise.”
Why?
From human instinct, it is a novel idea to go to a specific destination and only to build up our bodies. Looking back on our anthropology history, none of our hunter gathered ancestors’ activities was for “doing exercise.” Physical movements have already embeded in their daily routine. In the 19th century, Treadmills (tread wheels) was invented by William Cubitt for the Victorians to punish the prisoners, not to “benefit overall well-being.” Therefore, if we inject “movements” routines into our daily life, it minimizes our innate resistance to “work-out,” which makes “work-out” and “exercise” more available to us. When we realize that theory, walking would be the most basic form of physical exercise.
According to studies, the minimum recommended dose for exercise is 150 mins per week. If we keep this “150 mins-movement” habit, we will lose about 0.5 pounds (lb.) per month and can lose about 6 pounds if we continue this routine for one year. Also, because 30 percent of our muscle mass counts for 20 percent of metabolism; the older we are, the more benefit we can gain from exercise.
A study by Ralph Paffenbarger, a Stanford and Harvard University professor, found a correlation between exercise and mortality rate. Under the exact circumstances of doing 2000 kcal per week, the mortality rate drops 21 percent among the age group of fifty and less; the mortality rate drops 50 percent for the age group of seventy to eighty-four.
Interestedly, one of our neighborhood community center integrated the recreation and library program into one building. This brilliant gesture reminded us of a WELL design principle.
“Active design considers how different building components such as staircases can encourage movement.” — WELL V01, Active Buildings, and Communities.
Whether you are a fitness enthusiast or fitness cavalier, on National Fitness Day, we design this card for users at the Wheaton Community Centers, thanks to them share their healthy lifestyle with everyone in the community.
By the way, if you are interested in this topic, consider watching a Google talk by Dan Liberman, “Exercised- why something we never evolved.”