Lifestyle Choices

Lifestyle choices include diet, activity level, work/rest/sleep balance, and recreational drugs (alcohol, nicotine).

Also see Balanced Diet

Guidelines for 5- to 18-year-olds

To maintain a basic level of health, children and young people aged 5 to 18 need to do:

• at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day – this should range from moderate activity, such as cycling and playground activities, to vigorous activity, such as running and tennis
• on three days a week, these activities should involve exercises for strong muscles, such as push-ups, and exercises for strong bones, such as jumping and running

Guidelines for adults aged 19-64

To stay healthy, adults aged 19-64 should try to be active daily and should do:

• at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity such as cycling or brisk walking every week, and strength exercises on two or more days a week that work all the major muscles (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms)

Sport England have identified that more than one in four people in England (28 per cent) do less than 30 minutes of physical activity a week. There will be a much greater emphasis on groups who are typically much less active such as women, disabled people and those from lower-socio-economic backgrounds. There towards an active nation strategy will help deliver against the five health, social and economic outcomes set out in the Government’s Sporting Future

NHS Live Well

Research into Activity Levels of UK Children

The National Sleep Foundation has published its research which identifies the following ideal amount of sleep for different ages:

Newborns (0 - 3 months): 14-17 hours per day

Infants (4 - 11 months): 12-15 hours per day

Toddlers (1 - 2 years): 11-14 hours per day

Pre-school children (3 - 5 years) 10-13 hours per day

School age children (6 -13 years) 9-11 hours per day

Teenagers (14 - 17 years) 8-10 hours per day

Younger adults (18 - 25 years) 7-9 hours per day

Adults (26 - 64): 7 - 9 hours per day

Older adults (65 years+) 7-8 hours per day

Sleep is important as for sports performers it can lead to improved reaction times; reduce injury rates and improve overall health; extend playing careers; improve accuracy; and make fewer mistakes.

This is because while you sleep your body will recover from the stress of athletic performance and start to adapt, by replenishing energy stores and repairing damaged tissues. Deep sleep is important for the immune system and for physical recovery from workouts. Light sleep usually makes up half your night and is good for memory and learning.

NHS - Lack of Sleep

Smoking:

Nicotine is an extremely addictive poison which increases the smoker’s heart rate and blood pressure. It will eventually cause heart disease.

Tar is a brown substance which is very sticky, and as a result collects in the lungs making breathing more difficult. It will eventually lead to bronchitis and cancer of the mouth, throat and lungs.

Performance is affected as the amount of oxygen which is transported around the body in the blood is greatly reduced. Activities involving endurance will be most affected.

Chemicals from smoking increases:

• risk of lung cancer as chemicals in the smoke damage the cells that line the lungs.
• risk of bronchitis by causing an infection of the bronchi in the lungs.
• risk of pneumonia because of damage to the lining of the lungs leading to infections.
• risk of emphysema by killing the cilia so toxins are not removed from the airways.

Drinking Alcohol:

Alcohol badly affects the ability to move in a certain way, make decisions, and maintain a certain position, while undertaking sport. So can impeed an individual's co-ordination, judgement & balance

Being able to react is vital in most sporting activities, and alcohol slows this process and reduces the level of performance.

Energy is stored within each muscle in the form of glycogen, and the aim is to have these stores full prior to any involvement in sport. However, consuming alcohol lowers muscle glycogen and so makes the muscles tire more rapidly.

Alcohol increases both the loss of heat and water from the body. Being adequately hydrated is vital for performing well, while hypothermia could be fatal in an extremely cold environment.

Alcohol constricts arteries to the heart. This increases the pulse rate & blood pressure.

A sedentary lifestyle means that an individual has very little or no physical activity in their day to day life.

Having a sedentary lifestyle has many consequences including overweight; overfat; obese; increased risk to long-term health, e.g. depression, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, increased risk of osteoporosis, loss of muscle tone and poor posture

Causes of this include:

• Increased amount of desk or office jobs, the lack of manual work means that exercise in now a choice and not a necessity.
• Longer working hours meaning less time is available for active leisure.
• Increases in labour saving gadgets and technology such as sit on lawn mowers and remote controls which reduces an individuals movement.
• Developments in technology such as video games reduce the amount of physical activity people do, but also advancements in on-line shopping which keeps people from leaving their house to walk around the shops.
• If parents do not exercise they become a poor role model for children to exercise.
• Increased concern over child safety means that children play outside less.
• Developments in TV have meant that more choice is available to viewers such as live sport which can reduce the amount of people actually participating in playing sport.

Diabetes

Diabetes is a disease in which your blood glucose, or blood sugar, levels are too high. There are two main types of diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that plays a very important role in our bodies. After we eat, we begin to digest carbohydrates, breaking them down into glucose.

The insulin released by the pancreas moves glucose into our cells, where it is used as fuel for energy. It may help to understand that insulin is often described as a key, which open the doors to the cells, allowing glucose to enter.

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/

Loss of Muscle Tone

Muscle tone is a residual muscle tension, is an unconscious low level contraction of your muscles while they are at rest. It is what makes your muscles still feel somewhat firm while you are resting and not intentionally tensing them.