B1.1 - Fitness and health Flashcards
What is physical fitness?
Physical fitness is the ability to do physical activity.
How can you measure your fitness level?
- Stamina
- Strength
- Flexibility
- Agility
- Speed
- Cardiovascular efficiency
What is good health?
Good health is being free from disease
Heart disease is the main cause of early death in the UK. What could increase your risk of developing heart disease?
- Smoking
- Eating too much salt
- Eating too much saturated fat
- Having a high blood pressure
What is systolic pressure?
The pressure in the arteries when the heart contracts (120 mmHg)
What is diastolic pressure?
The pressure in the arteries when the heart relaxes
80 mmHG
What happens to your systolic pressure as you exercise?
When you exercise your systolic pressure increases, but then gradually decreases again when you rest.
What factors could increase your resting blood pressure, in turn causing you to have a high blood pressure?
- Smoking
- Eating too much salt
- Eating too much saturated fat
- Being overweight
- Stress
- Drinking a lot of alcohol
What factors would help keep your blood pressure at a normal rate?
Regular exercise and a balanced diet help keep your resting blood pressure normal.
If you have high blood pressure (140/90 mmHg) while you are resting, you are more likely to….
- Have a heart attack
- Have a stroke (or a blood vessel in the brain may burst)
- Suffer from kidney damage
How can having a resting blood pressure that is too low also be harmful?
It can lead to:
- Dizziness
- Fainting
- Poor circulation of blood and organ failure
Tobacco contains carbon monoxide and nicotine. How does smoking increase your blood pressure?
- Carbon monoxide combines with Haemoglobin in red blood cells and prevents them carrying as much oxygen. The heart beats faster to try to compensate for this, in turn putting stress on the heart.
- Nicotine increases the heart rate.
How may saturated fat increase your blood pressure?
Your liver makes cholesterol from saturated fat. Cholesterol is carried in the blood and may be deposited in artery walls. These deposits narrow the arteries and restrict blood flow. The blood pressure increases to force blood through the narrower gap.
What is Thrombosis?
Cholesterol deposits may also lead to a blood clot (Thrombosis). A thrombosis in the artery supplying the heart muscle causes a heart attack. A thrombosis in the artery supplying the brain causes a stroke.
A person has a blood pressure of 130/85 mmHg. What do these figures mean?
130 mmHg is the systolic blood pressure and 85 mmHg is the diastolic blood pressure. These figures show that this person has a high blood pressure. The normal blood pressure is 120/80 mmHg.
