Why Health and Fitness Are Mandatory Today

We live in a world where health and fitness are becoming buzzwords owing to the expected and manifest repercussions of neglecting our bodies. Ancient human beings would be surprised if they resurrected to see the kinds of diseases that are troubling human beings today. Experts assert that lifestyle complications like diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular illnesses and obesity and responsible for more deaths than conventional diseases like malaria and cholera to name a few.

The importance of health and fitness can be understood when one considers the risk of mortality associated with being overweight or obese. Many human beings are living dangerously and are nearing the grave unless they drastically alter their lifestyles in terms of physical activity. It is now common to spend a day with a person who appears perfectly healthy, only to hear that the same individual is dead the following morning. In essence, we need to make our bodies more active and fit in order to avert untimely deaths.

Morbidity is another reason that underlies the importance of health and fitness. It is a fact that people who are in bad physical shape (like overweight and obese persons) are more vulnerable to diseases and common illnesses. Since the blood in the veins cannot circulate optimally or blood vessels are clogged, the body’s ability to operate as it should and to ward off diseases is compromised. Individuals that are fit and healthy experience better health that those who are not.

The importance of health and fitness can also be understood when one considers the career and financial implications of being sickly or overweight. Many people who have problems with being overweight often spend a lot of time visiting doctors to be treated for one health complication or the other. Consequently, they spend a lot of time away from work thus risking retrenchment. Moreover, their career progression is affected by constant absence from work. Eventually, some of them are forced to stop working thus affecting their livelihoods and those of their family members.

Finally, the importance of health and fitness becomes clear when one considers the psychological impacts involved. Society often stigmatizes people who appear to be unfit or overweight. Obese children and adults are often subjected to taunts and insults. It is also possible for the affected child to develop inferiority complex and withdraw from the rest. The academic progress, career prospects and life chances of such a child are in jeopardy.