Anne would take part in a swimming competition the next morning and she was too nervous to sleep well. She tossed and turned all night.

She was no stranger to competition. In fact, she loved it. Anne was very athletic and her strong will and diligent spirit brought her respect and love. She was not only part of a swim team, but a soccer team, as well. Before she took up swimming, she had been playing soccer. She got along well with her teammates in the soccer team, and they usually encouraged each other before games. Just two days before the swimming competition, she had a regular soccer practice. Her soccer teammates noticed her anxiety and asked her about it. She lowered her head, murmuring. “I’ll take a swimming competition, and this particular competition was important. I had made it all the way to the finals and didn’t want to let my teammates down.” One of her soccer teammates patted her shoulder, “Just be yourself?” When Anne walked away, her soccer teammates looked at her back. They just couldn’t let it go.

The morning finally came. Having slept so poorly, Anne was not at all ready for the day. She was terribly anxious about the competition, so much so that she couldn’t even eat breakfast. It felt as though her stomach was doing somersaults (翻腾).

Anne’s mother looked concerned. “You have to eat something,” she said. “It’s important to keep your strength up.”

“I know, I’m just not hungry this morning,” Anne replied, picking at her eggs with a fork. All she could think about was facing the competition. What if she performed poorly? What if she disappointed her coach and teammates? She wouldn’t be able to forgive herself.

“Honey, drink the milk and have some bread. I’ll wait for you in the car. We just have 10 minutes left.” Hearing that, Anne had a quick breakfast, grabbed her gym bag and got into the car.

Half an hour later, she got to the athletic club where the swim meet was being held. She went to the locker room to prepare for the competition, but when she opened her gym bag, she was quite surprised.

Exercise is defined as any movement that makes your muscles work and requires your body to burn calories. There are many types of physical activity. Being active has been shown to have many health benefits, both physically and mentally.

Exercise plays a key role in building strong muscles and bones. This is because it helps release hormones that promote your muscles' ability to absorb amino acids (氨基酸). This helps them grow and reduces their breakdown. As people age, they tend to lose muscle mass and function, which can lead to an increased risk of injury. Practicing regular physical activity is essential to reducing muscle loss and maintaining strength as you age. Exercise not only helps build bone density when you're younger, but also helps prevent osteoporosis (骨质疏松症) later in life.

Exercise is good for your brain health and memory. To begin with, it increases your heart rate, which promotes the flow of blood and oxygen to your brain. It can also cause the production of hormones that enhance the growth of brain cells. Regular physical activity is especially important in older adults. Exercise has been shown to cause a part of the brain that's vital for memory and learning, to grow in size, which may help improve mental function in older adults. Lastly, exercise helps to reduce changes in the brain that can contribute to conditions like Alzheimer's disease.

Exercise can help with sleep quality. The energy loss that occurs during exercise encourages restorative (康复的) processes during sleep. Moreover, the increase in body temperature that occurs during exercise is thought to improve sleep quality by helping body temperature drop during sleep. Many studies on the effects of exercise on sleep have reached similar conclusions. One review of six studies found that participating in an exercise training program helped improve self-reported sleep quality.

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Walking Is Not Enough

All of us need to exercise. However, not everyone has the time or desire to join a gym. Everyone can walk, though! But how can a person with an inactive lifestyle walk for exercise? The key is to set an attainable goal. Just by doing daily chores, an inactive person probably already takes around two thousand steps per day. For exercise purpose, the aim should then be to walk more over time. A popular exercise goal for people these days is ten thousand steps per day.

Reaching a certain number of steps is not enough, however. Casual, slow walking does not really exercise the heart. It does not burn many calories, either. Health benefits result from at least thirty minutes of daily moderate-intensity exercise.

The intensity of a workout only needs to be enough to increase a person’s heart rate. Simply walking fast can do that. Keep in mind, though, that such fast walking needs to continue for at least ten minutes. Five minutes of fast walking six times a day will not benefits one’s health. Three 10-minute sessions can total thirty minutes per day. And that daily goal should be met five times per week.

Dr Vicki Harber is a researcher at the University of Alberta in Canada. She says, “People might not pay much attention to the pace or effort invested in taking those steps.” With a ten-thousand step daily target, Harber recommends that about one-third of those daily steps should be at a faster pace.

A little exercise is better than none

Exercise is good for us. It reduces the risk of dying from all causes, including cancer and heart disease. This is according to the World Health Organisation. But many people who work on weekdays have little time for exercise.

So, they might try to do something to increase their heart rates over the weekend go for a long run, take a bike ride, hike in the mountains or do a strenuous chore around the house, such as raking leaves , shoveling snow or digging a garden.

We sometimes call people who exercise only on Saturdays and Sundays “weekend warriors (战士)”. But is it healthy to avoid exercise during the workweek and then try to fit it all in during the weekend?

A new study suggests that, yes, it is healthy: Even weekend warriors may reduce their risk of cancer and cardiovascular (心血管的) disease.

Australian researchers at the University of Sydney conducted the study. It took place over a nine-year period.

During that time, the researchers looked at the self-reported exercise habits and health examinations of more than 63,000 adults in England and Scotland. Then they connected that information to mortality—or, death—records.

The researchers found that people who exercised only one or two days a week improved their chances of living longer than people who did not exercise at all. Even those who are very overweight—or, obese—could extend their lives by exercising a couple of days per week. Exercises included playing sports and taking a brisk walk.

First, let’s look at cancer. When compared to those who did not exercise at all , weekend warriors had an 18 percent lower risk of dying from cancer.

As for cardiovascular disease, weekend warriors had a 40 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease than inactive people, or so-called “couch potatoes”. Couch potatoes are people who don’t exercise. They simply sit all day like potatoes.

In other words, their health improves even if they don’t meet the suggested weekly amount of physical activity. However, to be in the best health, Stamatakis says, more exercise is better.

The WHO suggests that the average adult get at least 150 minutes of moderate (中等的) to intense activity per week. For the best results, the organisation suggests 75 minutes per week of vigorous (高强度的) physical activity.