Importance of Physical Activity According to Ayurveda

Exercise or physical activity helps in maintenance of health. Ayurveda has described physical activity or exercise under the heading Vyayama. Vyayama are the activities which are desirable and are capable of bringing about bodily stability and strength. It should be practiced daily but only in moderation.

Benefits of exercise – Depletes excess fat, makes you energetic, makes the body strong, light & compact, delays ageing, improves immunity.

Effects of excessive exercise – Giddiness, cough, fever, vomiting, aversion for food, emaciation, thirst, bleeding disorders, dyspnea, exhaustion, tiredness.

Contraindications of exercise – Immediately after food intake, while in hunger or thirst, children, pregnant, old persons having weakness, people suffering from diseases like indigestion, cough, dyspnea, emaciation, bleeding diseases, etc. and people emaciated due to excess sexual activity, weight lifting and excessive walking.

Important things to know about exercise 

• Exercise cannot benefit a person if it is done in excess to the point of over exhaustion. 
• One should consider one’s own age, strength, physique, diet as well as the season of the year and nature of the country before he begins to take physical exercise or otherwise it might lead to some diseases.
• Limit of exercise is half of one’s physical strength. This is the rule for persons who are strong, habitually taking unctuous diet, in cold and spring seasons only, while others and in other seasons like summer, autumn and rainy one should perform exercise to milder degree. 
• Half extent to one’s strength for exercise should be understood as the daily exercise to the point of enhanced respiration, feeling of slight obstruction in cardiac region, perspiration on forehead, nose and axilla, lightness of the body with an accompanying sensation of dryness in the mouth. 

According to WHO, insufficient physical activity is the fourth leading risk factor for mortality. Participation in 150 minutes of moderate physical activity each week is estimated to reduce the risk of ischemic heart disease, diabetes and colon & breast cancer.