Fitness and Exercise: Health Benefits, How to Get Started, and How to Get Better Many people strive to be fit. Fitness, after all, is synonymous with health. Having a high level of overall fitness is linked with a lower risk of chronic disease, as well as a better ability to manage health issues that do come up. Better fitness also promotes more functionality and mobility throughout one’s life span. And in the short term, being active can help your day-to-day functioning, from better mood to sharper focus to better sleep. Simply put: Our bodies are meant to move, and they tend to function better when we’re more fit. That said, it’s also important to know that there are many different ways to be fit (think of a ballet dancer versus a bodybuilder or a sprinter versus a gymnast). And fitness does not have a singular “look.” In fact, appearance can’t necessarily tell you about someone’s habits, whether they’re actually physically active, or even whether they’re fit at all.
What It Means to Be Fit According to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans set forth by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), there are five components of physical fitness: