essay on fitness needs pandemic
Answers
Answer:
Arm and leg extensions improve back strength and EMS fitness
Superman raises improve back strength and EMS fitness
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruptions in our lives. As the routines so many of us base our lives around have been altered, among the victims has been many providers’ personal fitness. We need to maintain that fitness now more than ever! This article will provide a few tips for continuing a regimen of physical activity and fitness while dealing with the pandemic.
Why should we prioritize fitness amid what in many places has turned into survival mode? Quite simply because we have to! Emergency responders’ physical and mental well-being are tremendously taxed right now, and maintaining some routine of physical fitness can go a long way toward helping both. The benefits of staying fit are no secret: Improvements in cardiovascular and respiratory health, better regulation of blood sugar, the potential to reduce or eliminate prescription medications (such as for diabetes or blood pressure), weight loss, reduction in cancer risk, and improved musculoskeletal strength are some of the better-known.
In addition, a 2019 review in the Journal of Sports and Health Science found that studies show moderate to vigorous exercise, less than 60 minutes in duration, may also play a role in immune system health.1 On top of that, the literature linked moderate-intensity exercise to a reduced incidence of upper respiratory infections and possibly decreased incidence of and mortality from influenza and pneumonia.
This is in no way to suggest that exercise is a form of prevention for COVID-19. However, as the virus does seem to greatly affect the respiratory system, this information should make us consider the potential protective effects continuing a regular fitness routine might provide us as responders.
A Better Mood
Certainly the physical benefits described above all make the emergency responder better prepared to do the job and more resilient to its physical rigors. However, it may be the mental benefits of physical activity that are most important at this time. While we’ve always known exercise seemed to improve our mood, in 2010 my friend and mentor in sports medicine, Jeremy Sibold, EdD, ATC, released findings that showed the positive mood effects of physical activity may persist longer than thought.
Sibold, an associate dean at the University of Vermont’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences, and his team found that only 20 minutes of aerobic exercise at moderate intensity resulted in improvements in mood both immediately and for up to 12 hours afterward.2 What does that mean to us? It means that if we can find 20 minutes before, during, or after a shift to be active, we have a chance to help mitigate some of the psychological toll the job can take on us. What’s even better is that it doesn’t cost us a dime—no insurance copays, no prescription costs, no self-help books, just the ability to maximize our time by “treating” ourselves while on the clock.
HOPE IT HELPS YOU