Staying Young
Filed under: Essays — arlene @ 5:16 am
Premature aging is one of the worst threats to your good looks, and one of the best ways of avoiding it is by getting plenty of exercise. This is not only because exercise stops your body from losing its youthful shape, firms muscles that could go flabby, and helps keep you slim. Physical activity is also essential in maintaining the strength and form of your whole muscle-skeletal system. When bones are not used they lose calcium, become weak and brittle, break easily and are slow to repair. They also actually shrink in mass. What is worse, physical decay is progressive; a lack of physical activity results in an almost inevitable further lack of activity and further shrinkage.
When muscle mass shrinks, so does the production of steroid hormones from the adrenal and sex glands—in direct proportion to the loss of muscle tissue. (This occurs as a natural process in the passing of years as well, but more slowly.) These hormones are essential for the maintenance of young-looking, wrinkle-free skin and healthy hair. They also fulfill numerous other roles in the maintenance of internal health. Your level of physical activity is an important factor in the maintenance of optimal functioning in your endocrine system, helping to make possible the continued flow of sufficient hormones for youth and vitality.
