Who Should Perform Exercises

Any healthy person of any age should not hesitate to perform anyone of the exercise related activities which must commensurate with amount of food intake and nature of job. Sports persons and athletes have been seen to be quite regular in taking exercise daily. Housewives who perform all or most of the domestic chores need not take to any extra physical activity since dusting, cleaning of floor, washing clothes, making purchases from the market are sufficient activities for them to keep fit and healthy.

Children and young persons should play outdoor games and sports to keep fit and expend the energy and also that their diet also must be such as to meet requirements at the growth stage. They should resist from playing indoor games (except table tennis, if played in a room or courtyard). Moreover they must develop the habit of doing their own work themselves, instead of depending on their family members or servants.


For old and aged persons early morning walk and simple stroll after dinner will suffice to meet their demands on physical acti vity, provided they do not suffer from any incapacitating disorder. If they are unable to resort to walking, they should simply perform Pranayama and other breathing exercises and also light physical exercises which do not interfere with their physical status / disability. But they must avoid any activity where jerks or falls are feared or anticipated. Even bathing is a good exercise for them, but heart patients must consult their doctors before taking to any activity.

You may or may not derive desired results by doing any physical activity or advantages may be noticed quite late, if done properly but, an exercise done wrongly is bound to harm the body. Adventurous games like trekking, hill climbing, swimming, some aerobic exercises should be done under guidance of the concerned coach.

Persons who should Avoid Physical Activity

Persons who suffer from acute attack of asthma, severe and excruciating headache, backache, stiff and totally immobile joints, in febrile conditions, cancer of any aetiology, after any operation, during the course of travelling, mental agitation, pregnant ladies, debilitated and incapacitated old persons, weak and undernourished children / young persons, stomach ulcers, cirrhosis and cancer of liver, heavy drunkards, chain smokers, drug addicts, traumatic cases should not perform any physical activity or exercise without advice of the attending doctor. If they take to any physical activity of their own, they are simply inviting a calamity for themselves and a problem for other house inmates.

Similarly, no exercise should be performed immediately after return from daily work, in extreme cold, heat and moist weather and when it is raining. Patients to asthma and other respiratory disorders are warned not to venture in performing any physical exercise / vigorous activity when there is an acute attack. Further, when the body is drenched with preparations, when breathlessness sets in, when visibility is poor, weather conditions are not congenial when stomach is full, or after prolonged fasting. These unfavourable conditions apply to all age groups and both the sexes.

Excessive Intake of Fats

Fat is an essential part of our diet and it is height of imprudent discretion to totally eliminate fats from daily diet. For a normal diet daily consumption of 25 gms is a usual standard requirement. Only saturated fats cause havoc in the form of raised serum cholesterol level which results in raised blood pressure, arteriosclerosis, coronary heart disease, excessive fat accumulation in the body which is the prime factor in obesity and overweight.

Carbohydrates are obtained from sugar, rice, wheat, jaggery, fruits and some vegetables and energy to body is provided by them. It is a fact that heat generated by fats is almost double the amount of energy generated by carbohydrates. Fats are also essential for mobility of joints. But, in order to digest the fats, rigorous and hard activity is required. Excessive ingestion of fats and carbohydrates is responsible for adiposity (obesity).
Fats discharge following functions viz.:

To provide protection to body organs. To store energy in the body.

To promote growth of body organs by providing necessary fats and

4.
To retain the generated head within the body. Excessive fat consumption finds its way through stools as it is not absorbed within the body. Fat and overweight persons have immense capacity to eat and also digest, and this is the reason as to why fat accumulates in their bodies. It is a fashion in elite and well to do families to eat fat-rich friend foods which are overloaded with carbohydrates also.

There are 3 types of fats viz :

(i) Saturated Fats — These are (saturated) fatty acids that raise serum cholesterol level.

(ii) Polyunsaturated Fats—These fats do not raise serum
cholesterol levels, (iii) Monosaturated Fats—These fats bring down serum
cholesterol level and are also known to raise HDL. Following comparative table will clearly show presence of above mentioned types of fats.

Note: Mark - denotes Fat Contents not known.

30 % of total calorie requirement should be met through unsaturated fatty acids and not from saturated ones. It is necessary that total intake of unsaturated fats should be equally spread over and divided within a period of 24 hours so that there is a regular supply of such fats to all the body organs and production of energy is also uniform. In any case a normal person may consume 25-30 gms of fats daily in divided ones. The said quantity may be raised in the case of persons doing strenuous manual work, irrespective of sex and age.