2 million people die every year... What is Hypokinetic Disease, and how can you protect yourself?
Statistics show that 2 million people lose their lives every year due to insufficient movement. Physical inactivity plays an influential role in many diseases, particularly heart disease and high blood pressure. Exercise can be defined as purposeful movements performed to protect our health or to maintain an already improved state of health. Exercise carries different characteristics depending on the age, sex, and health condition of the person performing it, and sometimes even on their fitness level or skills, but to give a general definition, it is a regular, rhythmic program performed 3 to 5 times a week for approximately 30-45 minutes. Depending on the intended goal, its intensity, severity, and duration may need to be adjusted.
As civilization advances, the human organism is forced to move less and less. New devices are developed every day without consideration of the negative effects of insufficient movement on the organism. People snap up these devices, saying it's "for our comfort." Let's now examine the negative effects of insufficient movement on the human body:
The human body completed its evolution amid the harsh conditions of the natural world in the earliest ages. In those eras, humans had to be strong in order to survive, to fight wild animals, to withstand harsh natural conditions, and to feed themselves. Because the people of that time were constantly engaged in a struggle, they had a very strong physical structure. All their muscles had developed enormously. They were stronger, faster, and more resilient. They were in a constant series of movements.
NOW LET US PICTURE TODAY'S HUMAN BEING
Today, people move much less in order to survive. Today, this lack of movement has given rise to a new group of diseases. This group of diseases is called Hypokinetic Disease* (diseases of insufficient movement). These diseases are now among the leading causes of death today. Cardiovascular diseases lead this group.
It is in order to cope with this lack of movement, to raise a person's quality of life, and to make daily activities physically easier for people to perform that the concept of "lifelong sport" was born. This concept has been referred to by different names in different periods and different countries. Sometimes "sport for everyone," sometimes "sport for health," sometimes "mass sport."
The World Health Organization's slogan in the year 2000 is very important: "Move Regularly for Your Health." Because, in fact, due to advanced technology, we sit far too much in our daily lives. We watch television for long periods; we remain inactive. This applies to young people, adults, and the elderly alike. Various segments of society absolutely need to be encouraged toward exercise and made aware of this issue. It should be the family's responsibility to accustom their children to regular exercise from a young age, according to their abilities, wishes, and desires. In adulthood, this needs to be turned into a lifestyle, so that our health develops in a way that allows us to continue this into old age and achieve significant gains in our functions.
We recommend that children, and indeed anyone intending to engage in sports, first have a check-up to see whether their health condition is truly suitable for regular exercise or advanced conditioning exercises. After this, what does the child want; what kind of exercise do they want; what do they enjoy? Do they enjoy swimming, or racket sports? Or do they enjoy activities that children love, such as basketball or volleyball, which they enjoy doing together with friends? It is possible to direct the child toward the activity they want at various clubs, developing the skill they enjoy, if necessary with support from a physical education teacher who trains them. It is also necessary to avoid, especially for boys — though girls rarely show interest — highly demanding, traumatic sports such as weightlifting, which place excessive strain on the joints and could seriously damage joints still in the developmental stage. A good exercise that will help develop their skills can be chosen in cooperation with the child and their teacher.