Element 1.4 Understand negative factors affecting health and well-being
Element 1.4 Understand negative factors affecting health and well being
What happens if we live a sedentary lifestyle
The first thing that really catches up with you if you don't eat properly and don't exercise is your weight. When your younger you use a lot of energy to grow but as you get older your metabolism slows down and you only have a certain amount of energy you use everyday. Its a simple formula if you don't use the energy you put inside your body from food and drink your body stores it. This means you become overweight. I have worked out from my height, weight, skeletal muscle and lifestyle that I use 1750 calories a day before I do any exercise. This means if I don't do any additional daily exercise and eat more than 1750 calories my body will start storing those calories in fat cells and I will put on weight. To give an idea of perspective a regular Mc Donalds big mac meal with fries and a coke is 1100 calories, so eating one of these meals would use up 2/3 of my days calorie allowance.
Putting on weight is just the first thing that happens if you over eat and don't do any exercise. If you persist you can become ill. As you put on weight your heart and lungs have to work harder to pump blood and oxygen around your body. You will be exercising your cardiovascular system less so your heart becomes less effective but is under more strain. Your now in a position where the risk of a heart attack, stroke and high blood pressure is much more likely. Their is also a real risk of developing diabetes.
Additional factors
Smoking can put extra strain on your heart and lungs. Smoking reduces the size of the area of the lungs which supplies oxygen to the blood, it also clogs the arteries. This puts extra pressure on your heart which is already working harder due to obesity. Smoking has other negative effects on your health too, their are a range of cancers like lung and throat cancer associated with smoking as well as the obvious physical effects of rapidly ageing your skin (especially on your face) bad smell, yellow fingers and yellow teeth.
Alcohol has some of the same negative effects as smoking and some of its own. For a start alcohol contains a lot of calories so it makes you put on weight. It also can severally dehydrate you. It makes your reactions much slower and weakens your muscles. There is some research to shows that a small amount of alcohol over a long period of time can have some health benefits but alcohol abuse over a period of time can seriously damage the central nervous system and can cause liver damage, cancer,chronic pancreatitis and cardiovascular disease.
