“The reason I exercise is for the quality of life I enjoy.” Kenneth H. Cooper, Age 87 who introduced the concept of aerobics.
Fitness per se is not happiness, but all happiness requires us to be fit. Think.
You are sick, you are mentally disturbed, you have pain in the body, and you have a chronic disease. Can you be happy with these diseases? Can you enjoy good food or picnic with friends and family? No.
Gradually our happiness diminishes with our age as our fitness is the casualty. Unfit aged people can’t live a quality life whereas fit aged people can live a fulfilling life even at any age.
Recently Canadian Government has produced a video on how exercise during the young age can make your aged life happier.
Make Health Last. What will your last 10 years look like?
Fitness is a prerequisite for our happiness. Unfit body impacts our mind and our mind becomes frustrated. This makes us irritable at the smallest inconvenience or discomfort. This vicious circle makes us socially avoidable personality. This furthers our unhappiness.
The key to our happiness is healthy and fit body and mind. We MUST give the highest priority to the health of our fitness. As the famous saying goes; “Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” Jim Rohn
All of us want to become happy. All our actions and thoughts are pursuing happiness throughout the life. Yet, our focus remains on immediate gratifications which may make us happy immediately, but it may not be good for our sustainable long-term happiness.
Our wrong food choices and our lethargy or casual attitude towards exercise may make us happy NOW, but its long-term implications may not be healthy.
Pizza or Burger or Processed Food or Aerated Drinks or morning sweet sleep instead of exercise all make us happy NOW, but all have potential to make us unhealthy and therefore unhappy sooner or later.
“Time and health are two precious assets that we don’t recognize and appreciate until they have been depleted.” Denis Waitley.
Exercise and happiness are directly linked. Exercise has been shown to improve the sleep patterns of insomniacs, as well as lower their anxiety [source: American Academy of Sleep Medicine]. Studies on rats indicate that exercise mimics the effects of antidepressants on the brain. Exercise is also responsible for the creation of new brain cells in the part of the brain responsible for learning and memory [source: Karolinska Institutet].
Happiness and exercise are similar in two notable ways: both are independently associated with a boost to the immune system, and also with the release of endorphins.
Exercise stimulates the production of disease-fighting proteins known as antibodies, which destroy unwelcome invaders like bacteria and viruses. (1) This also makes us happy.
This Infographic from Happify.com is an interesting read:
The most important thing one can relate happiness and fitness is;
Life remains easier if you are fit.
- You can do your own things,
- You are not dependent on others,
- You can go wherever you want to go,
- You have less or no disease,
- You have no eating restrictions,
- You have better sleep,
- Life remains painless and
- Participate in life events.
What more you want if you have this freedom for longer lifespan? As you age happiness is about nothing more than your mobility, pain-free life, and restriction less diet. Isn’t it?
Fitness can give you happiness without any external booster. You can be happy alone.
Remember, you can make Fitness your priority from today.
“The difference between who you are and who you want to be is what you do.” Bill Phillips.
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