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Technology has revolutionized our lifestyle, the way we reason, the activities we engage on and has continued to evolve the whole of the universe in general. Like I have stressed out in some of my previous posts, I do wonder how the past generations managed to enjoy life when they could not access even the simplest among the technological tools that we have today. There is no doubt about it; these people did benefit from better consumption (not just some random chemicals that we consume today) and a better atmosphere. Everything they eat and use was organic and was the reason they lived a healthier and longer life.
Pixabay image - CCO licensed
While the exhausts from cars and other harmful chemicals being released to the atmosphere are some of the demerits of these technological advancements that we leverage today, they still ensure that we live a more conducive and enjoyable life. The past generations could have wished to access these amenities brought to us by Science and Technology. However, tech has got its way of affecting us adversely.
Tech has got its influence on us and that sometimes makes things crappy
Technology has resulted in making us lazy, I must say. Centuries ago, people travelled long distances on foot. They cultivated lands, constructed roads and built houses (on lands and rocks) with 100% manpower. Every activity they engaged in was done with their energy without the involvement of machineries. While these physical activities could be tiring, they are so beneficial to human health. Those regular exercises made them feel happier, help their brain and skin health and as well their memory.
Ironically unfortunately today, we move in cars, use machineries in doing almost everything and this has lead us to giving no regards to the benefits of engaging in physical exercises. From a verifiable Statistical report, less than 5% of adults participate in half an hour physical exercises daily and over 80% do not meet the guidelines for aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities. That is really crappy.
Tech is not generally at fault, how about our lack of motivation?
My elder brother is a gymnast. Although he does not engage in gymnasium competitions, he does it for himself to have a manly physique and a healthy body. He has this amazing figure; chest out, broad shoulder and attention-catching arms. Just looking at him makes me wish I could get that manly look. I am an individual that likes it when a man looks manly and not just with some big belly like a pregnant woman. Whenever I go to his place, I go with him to the gym and engage in all sorts of physical activities. That is not the case when I am back in school; alone.
Pixabay image - CCO licensed
I really find it hard to put my mindset on living a lifestyle that requires that I engage in physical activities. As much as I have passion for physical exercises and body workouts, my lack of motivation stops me from being consistent. Living a healthy lifestyle and engaging in these activities are something almost every adult wants. We however find it hard to get used to it and even when we try to be consistent, we just get tired sometimes.
That is not all, some people just do not have the time or equipment
I understand that there are those individuals that their jobs leave no time to exercise. Some do not have the equipments or are in unsafe environments. An individual that has got to work for 12 hours a day and has a very demanding job might feel tired and lack the motivation to exercise. Some of us just cannot afford to acquire the equipment.
Buying equipments may not be what you need after all. There are many mobile apps that aid different body workouts and exercises that do not involve lifting heavyweight metals. Regardless of the lack of time, when people get to truly understand how healthy exercise make their body; both physically and mentally, they ensure they fit it into their already-busy schedule.
Why exercise regularly?
Sometimes we just need to truly understand the benefits that we get from doing something before we make it a habit. After all, there is no how we can have the motivation to be consistent with engaging in an activity when we do not comprehend what makes it essential to us.
How about we take a look at some of the benefits that come with exercising?
Fights kung fu with health conditions and disorders
It has been established that regular exercise combats various hearth and other diseases in the body. When we engage in physical activities regularly, we reduce the chance of being disturbed by health problems. From verifiable sources, regular physical activities help diminish and manage diseases such as, stroke, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, high cholesterol, some types of cancer, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, falls, metabolic syndrome, and psychological ones such as depression and anxiety.
Pixabay image - CCO licensed
Regular exercise strengthens the heart and improves blood circulation throughout the body. As well, it balances the oxygen and triglyceride levels in the body.
No room for unnecessary weight
Contrary to what many of us believe, calories are not bad for us. In fact, our body needs calories to function well. We just need to burn as many of them as we consume. When we fail to do this and allow the extra calories to be stored as triglycerides in the body system, we end up being overweight or corpulent. Trust me, you do not want that. Triglycerides threaten the heart health and too much of it causes a disease known as atherosclerosis. Again, you do not want that.
When done regularly with diet, exercise control the weight and ensure that you stay healthy as needed. Engaging with physical activities burns the calories that we intake, thereby leaving no room for obesity.
Bones and muscles
Not only does exercise help adults with stronger bones and muscles, it tends to slow loss of energy even when we leave it as we grow old. It seems you may not need some equipment to grow some muscle and make your bones stronger. All you need is to be consistent on doing some body workouts and later in this series; we will talk about how Actifit aids us in achieving this.
As we engage in exercises, more oxygen and nutrients are delivered into our body. These provide more than enough energy needed to do our daily chores.
How about the fun part
I know it might feel tiresome sometimes, exercises are social and enjoyable. Although it is best enjoyed when it is done with peers, doing it alone due to our busy schedule does not deprive us the fun part of it. We feel better totally; it improves our mood, helps us in having a sound sleep and as well, put that missing spark in our sex life. There are so many benefits that come with exercising and it just depends on how we want to look at it.
I am not blaming tech, it after all brought us Actifit
The innovation of blockchain and technology has been used to bring about a platform that aids us in engaging in exercises. This is an innovative DApp that combines the use of social interaction with reward-based mechanism to motivate us as we engage in physical activities. This means for literally doing things that improve our physical and mental health, we get compensated with digital currency.
Actifit is built on Steem blockchain and is integrated with Steemit.com, the leading Steem DAP and blogging platform ever built on chain. Steemit.com is an established social network with over a million accounts. This means we get to share our physical activities with thousands of people across the globe.
Actifit has a mobile application that requires users to have a Steem account. As we engage in physical activities, the app tracks them and hence, helps us in putting our mindset on living a healthy lifestyle. We thereby get rewarded with the Actifit protocol token (AFIT) and as well, receive upvotes (which bring in some Steem) through the Steemit.com frontend. In the end, we do not only enjoy the benefits of exercise listed above but also get compensated with monetary rewards.
Project updates
The Actifit project commenced about a year ago and has since become one of the most used DApps on the Steem blockchain. There is an Android app that can be downloaded on Google Play and the one for iOS devices that can be downloaded on Apple’s App Store. As an Open Source project, there have been various contributions on different components of the apps; bugs reports and fixes, suggestions and other contribution categories from different Open Source volunteers across the globe. There have been recent activities in Actifit’s Github repository and the project is hence very active.
Before we meet in the next series…
I decided to make this a series due to the broadness of the Actifit project. Definitely I am continuing this series and I will cover every depth of this amazing project. This may, however, be my last contribution on Utopian.io. Hence, I will like to dedicate this post to 
I started contributing on Tutorial category which pushed me to be more focused as a budding Java programmer. I went ahead to Visibility and then Blog categories. My journey contributing on all these categories has improved me a lot apart from the monetary compensations that I have gotten from Utopian. This is one of the strongest, most successful and most influential initiatives on Steem blockchain and this makes me wonder how we are going to cope without them. Nevertheless, I wish the team and the board members of this amazing project all the best in the project heads to a new dimension. Thank you for all you have done for us.