Task 1. How much physical activity do you think a young person needs to stay healthy? Read and check your answers. What are the activity intensity levels? When you take part in a low-intensity activity, you do not sweat and your breathing is not affected greatly. Moderate-intensity activities should make you sweat and your heart beat faster. You cannot sing, but you can continue talking. As for high-intensity activities, you start to sweat sooner and cannot talk without getting out of breath.

Physical activity is any activity where you move your body and burn energy. There are many benefits of being physically active. Firstly, exercise stops you from becoming overweight, and this is important because keeping a healthy weight lowers your risk of developing certain illnesses in the future. What is more, when you work out, play a sport or even just go for a walk, the muscles and bones in your body become stronger. Because your heart is a muscle too, physical activity can keep it strong and healthy. You definitely want it to be strong enough to send blood and oxygen around your body!

We should all take part in physical activity regularly. According to the World Health Organization, young people aged between 5 and 17 should do about 60 minutes of moderate to high-intensity physical activity daily to keep their heart healthy and to stay fit. This does not have to be done all at once but can be done throughout the day.

Task. Read again and answer the questions.

1. How does a person feel during a high-intensity activity? – You start to sweat sooner and cannot talk without getting out of breath.

2. What could an unhealthy weight lead to?

3. How does physical activity benefit our muscles and bones?

4. What does our heart do?

5. How are low-intensity and moderate-intensity activities different?

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