Tag Archive for 'benessere'

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No walk, no health

In my opinion, the simple action of walking should become one of the main challenges of our near future. A sedentary lifestyle has certainly become the most widespread activity in our world dominated by machines and technology. We also know very well the damage caused by a sedentary lifestyle. Moving has become so important, as well as being not very often sufficiently practiced, so that smartwatches remind us of it imperatively every hour.

How much we walk has been showed by a research:

In USA, Americans take 5,117 steps a day, a distance of approximately 2.5 miles. That’s a significant shortfall compared to the averages in Western Australia (9,695), Switzerland (9,650), Switzerland (9,650) and Japan (7,168).

“It is interesting that these step counts are only about one-third of the values measured for men and women living in an Old Order Amish farming community in Ontario, Canada. Assuming that the labor-intensive farming lifestyle of the Amish reflects that of most North Americans in the mid-1800s, this suggests a marked decline in ambulatory activity over the last century and a half.”

Personally, I have an annual average of 11,988 steps a day, equal to 9,420km.

 

+ wellbeing with 5minutes of movement each work hour

This research showed that it’s better to move 5m each hour of work. The benefits are evident and improve the global wellbeing.

Audrey Bergouignan et al. (2016). Effect of frequent interruptions of prolonged sitting on self-perceived levels of energy, mood, food cravings and cognitive function. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 13:113

While physical activity has been shown to improve cognitive performance and well-being, office workers are essentially sedentary. We compared the effects of physical activity performed as (i) one bout in the morning or (ii) as microbouts spread out across the day to (iii) a day spent sitting, on mood and energy levels and cognitive function.

Methods

In a randomized crossover trial, 30 sedentary adults completed each of three conditions: 6 h of uninterrupted sitting (SIT), SIT plus 30 min of moderate-intensity treadmill walking in the morning (ONE), and SIT plus six hourly 5-min microbouts of moderate-intensity treadmill walking (MICRO). Self-perceived energy, mood, and appetite were assessed with visual analog scales. Vigor and fatigue were assessed with the Profile of Mood State questionnaire. Cognitive function was measured using a flanker task and the Comprehensive Trail Making Test. Intervention effects were tested using linear mixed models.

Results

Both ONE and MICRO increased self-perceived energy and vigor compared to SIT (p < 0.05 for all). MICRO, but not ONE, improved mood, decreased levels of fatigue and reduced food cravings at the end of the day compared to SIT (p < 0.05 for all). Cognitive function was not significantly affected by condition.

Conclusions

In addition to the beneficial impact of physical activity on levels of energy and vigor, spreading out physical activity throughout the day improved mood, decreased feelings of fatigue and affected appetite. Introducing short bouts of activity during the workday of sedentary office workers is a promising approach to improve overall well-being at work without negatively impacting cognitive performance.

10 healthy rules to feel ourselves mentally and physically fit

In our society, very often feeling fit is experienced as a duty, because  our friends, the doctor or our partner ask us to be fit and we feel pushed to “do something” to not listen more those questions about why we do not want to do anything. Other times, however, it is the case of those who already practice in the gym to develop a mentality centered on the idea, that to feel good, we must do more and more and the results will be achieved only with pain and tiring sessions in which we challenge ourselves to reach the limit.

Neither of these two approaches to physical activity is of great help in promoting the pleasure of carrying out an activity without any other purpose than the desire to be physically and mentally fit and being at ease producing positive effects on one’s well-being, which are momentary but also lasting over time if carried out continuously. To motivate us to undertake and maintain this type of path it is important to know what we tell ourselves. Here are 10 rules, which represent 10 ways of doing that if acquired could support the choice and maintenance of a physically active lifestyle .

  1. Enjoy the work to be fit
  2. Build a peaceful mind
  3. Breath to feel your body
  4. Visualize your wellness
  5. Listen the heart calm and when working full of energy
  6. Image what you do before to do it
  7. Be your breathing
  8. Feel the body flexibility
  9. Be linked to the good mood
  10. Be grateful to yourself for what you do

10 healthy streets indicators

It’s amazing for me how easy it would be to change our socially oriented sedentary lifestyle. Others, in this case in United Kingdom  are developing a different culture and try to change it to a socially oriented wellness lifestyle that comes from the movement.

  1. Pedestrians from all walks of life – London’s streets should be welcoming places for everyone to walk, spend time in and engage in community life.
  2. People choose to walk, cycle and use public transport -Walking and cycling are the healthiest and most sustainable ways to travel, either for whole trips or as part of longer journeys on public transport. A successful transport system encourages and enables more people to walk and cycle more often. This will only happen if we reduce the volume and dominance of motor traffic and improve the experience of being on our streets.
  3. Clean air – Improving air quality delivers benefits for everyone and reduces unfair health inequalities.
  4. People feel safe – The whole community should feel comfortable and safe on our streets at all times. People should not feel worried about road danger or experience threats to their personal safety.
  5. Not too noisy – Reducing the noise impacts of motor traffic will directly benefit health,improve the ambience of street environments and encourage active travel and human interaction.
  6. Easy to cross – Making streets easier to cross is important to encourage more walking and to connect communities. People prefer direct routes and being able to cross streets at their convenience. Physical barriers and fast moving or heavy traffic can make streets difficult to cross.
  7. Places to stop and rest – A lack of resting places can limit mobility for certain groups of people. Ensuring there are places to stop and rest benefits everyone, including local businesses, as people will be more willing to visit, spend time in, or meet other people on our streets.
  8. Shade and shelter – Providing shade and shelter from high winds, heavy rain and direct sun enables everybody to use our streets, whatever the weather.
  9. People feel relaxed – A wider range of people will choose to walk or cycle if our streets are not dominated by motorised traffic, and if pavements and cycle paths are not overcrowded, dirty, cluttered or in disrepair.
  10. Things to see and do – People are more likely to use our streets when their journey is interesting and stimulating, with attractive views, buildings, planting and street art and where other people are using the street. They will be less dependent on cars if the shops and services they need are within short distances so they do not need to drive to get to them.
Risultati immagini per 10 Healthy Streets Indicators

Goal of psychological counseling in top sport

  • Developing/improving athlete psychological skills to cope with the races
  • Psychological assessment of the athletes
  • Advice for coaches on specific issues of interest to them
  • Solutions for individual athletes problems that coaches no longer know how to cope
  • Collaboration in the management of the group outside workout
  • Psychological counseling to athletes and coaches during competition
  • Competitive stress management of athletes, coaches and staff
  • Athlete wellbeing improvement and management extra-sport life

Physical activity benefits for adults and older adults

Be Active, Sit Less, Build Strength, Improve Balance

From Now

Happiness

“Happiness does not come automatically. It is not a gift that good fortune bestows upon us and a reversal of fortune takes back. It depends on us alone. One does not become happy overnight, but with patient labor, day after day. Happiness is constructed, and that requires effort and time. In order to become happy, we have to learn how to change ourselves.”

Luca & Francesco Cavalli-Sforza

 

New fields of mental coaching

The mental aspect of sport is not only related on technical or tactical training. This aspect is only part although important. I would say that the first aspect of the mental coaching concerns the implementation of the daily life of an athlete, and then his/her daily lifestyle. Nutrition, sleep, friends and family are significant aspects of the success. In many sports, for example, weight control is an essential aspect  of the performance and live in a conscious and positive these aspects increases the athlete well-being. Research conducted by the United States Olympic Committee found that family and friends are needed for success as they provide economic support, encouragement and emotional stability. The second aspect refers to the mental component of fitness. Feeling fit and ready to face any situation of their athletic performance is an essential part of self-confidence and viceversa. In fact, the motivation and the mental capacity to resist effectively to physical fatigue and exercise intensity promote the quality of the training sessions. Moreover, in many sports you should develop abilities not depending of other technical skills and who are however crucial to determine the result. I think the serve in volleyball and tennis, free throws in basketball, penalties in football, kicks in rugby, start in motor sports or sailing. These situations need to be trained mentally with accuracy.

Sport as a way of life in Europe

On 15 November in Florence, at the Palagio di Parte Guelfa, it will be held the Conference “Sport as a way of life in Europe,” an event sponsored by the National Agency for Youth. On this occasion the experts  all over the world and policy makers will discuss the issues related to the practice of sport in terms of promotion of healthy lifestyles. A tour that will visit medical and scientific issues, investigating the role of sport for the prevention and treatment of many diseases; town planning and architecture, with a focus on the redesign of the city according to the practice of outdoor sports and “zero kilometer”; legal and administrative probing new regulations, and comparing them with those of Europe, that promote the creation and management of sports organizations.

Information: National Youth Agency

 

#Moveweek

MOVE Week is an annual Europe-wide event and an integral part of the NowWeMOVE campaign. This year, MOVE Week will take place from 29 September to 5 October. The objective of MOVE Week is to promote the benefits of being active and participating regularly in sport and physical activity throughout Europe. A wide range of promoters of physical activity (who we call MOVE Agents) coordinate events, including existing and new physical activities, for MOVE Week. MOVE Week and the NowWeMOVE campaign are being coordinated centrally by the International Sport and Culture Association (ISCA) in collaboration with the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF). MOVE Week 2014 is financially supported by the European Union. MOVE Agents are the stars of MOVE Week. They make MOVE Week happen. A MOVE Agent can be a grassroots sport organisation, club, school, university, voluntary group, company, municipality/city or individual who organises a sport and physical activity event for MOVE Week. It is the MOVE Agent’s job to choose their event type and location, register it on the portal at moveweek.eu, gather the team they need to implement it, promote it in their communities and oversee it when it unfolds on the day(s). A MOVE Agent is a voluntary position, but ISCA and the National Coordinators in each country can give them advice on how to seek funding and support for their events. Toolkits, posters, flyers, banners and other promotional materials are also available to help MOVE Agents plan, gather support for, promote and stage their events