Introduction:
In order to achieve certain goals in fitness, individuals have to learn and understand the basics first. There are a lot of ways one can stay fit, like practising regular exercise or indulging in frequent physical activities. Even though these two terms are often used interchangeably, they are quite different from each other. In this article, we will expand on the principles of both physical activity and exercise and explain their major differences.
What is physical activity?
The term “physical activity” refers to any body movements executed by the muscles that utilize energy. It is a broad term used to describe a variety of things and some examples include, walking, climbing stairs, doing household tasks, and other forms of activities that generally involve physical labour. It offers a lot of benefits for both your mind and the body. On the other hand, a “physically inactive” person is someone who doesn’t frequently indulge in activities that include this type of bodily movement at the expense of energy. Some advantages of physical activity include:
- Improves body flexibility, strength, and endurance
- Boosts capability of daily heavy workload and reduces the risk of falling
- Promotes good health and longevity
- Minimizes risk of several diseases and health conditions
- Passively helps to reach fitness goals
What is exercise?
Exercise is defined as a form of structured activity that requires a lot of physical effort, and is intended to promote health and fitness among individuals. Instead of being a typical day-to-day life necessity, it is an accessory used to achieve and maintain a healthier way of living. Some common examples of exercise include swimming, cycling, lifting weights, participating in sports activities, gym workouts, etc. Some crucial benefits of exercise include:
- Helps to maintain a healthy body weight
- Improves physical strength and overall endurance
- Promotes good mental and physical health
- Improves quality of life and sleep
- Reduces the risk of several diseases, like cardiovascular disease, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, etc.
How is physical activity different from exercise?
As you can see, both physical activity and exercise share a lot of things in common, especially in terms of benefits. However, they also have several crucial points of difference that help to separate them from one another. Like definition-wise, physical activity refers to any body movement that requires energy utilization, whereas exercise refers to specific structured body movements that are intentionally performed with the goal of promoting good health and body fitness. It means that physical activity can be both planned or unplanned with no solo goal, whereas exercise is always planned and has a sole purpose. You can consider exercise as a subcategory of physical activity that concentrates on the betterment and maintenance of body fitness. Apart from this, another key difference between these two is in the aspect of overall health benefits. Exercise is a dedicated activity for promoting health, hence its benefits are more evident and effective than physical activity. Thus fitness enthusiasts recommend everyone dedicate a few hours every day to exercise in order to see the best fitness results.
Conclusion:
Individuals, who are physically active and invest their time in regular exercise, have better physical and mental health status than the ones who stay physically inactive and avoid doing exercise. Hence, even if you are required to complete a series of physical activities as a part of your daily work life, make sure to include at least 30 minutes of regular exercise in order to reach your health and fitness goals efficiently.
