Everyone’s heard of exercise and physical fitness and health and whatnot. Some say you’re not fully alive if you don’t eat healthy. Others say the best way to enjoy a day is to run for a mile. Still others don’t care at all. People would go for crash diets and equate “thin” with the word “healthy”. Others would retreat to the gym and workout until they go daft. But of course, none of these are entirely accurate. I guess we can say that this is because no one really understands the true meaning of Physical Fitness.

Physical Fitness can simply be defined as being healthy—mind, body, and spirit—without tiring yourself out too quickly for normal. It isn’t only being thin and sexy or strong and muscular; it is yourself being in the best condition as you could be. And there is more than one way to achieve physical fitness.

The first and most obvious way would be to eat a balanced diet. And “diet” does not mean surviving on one meal per day. A balanced diet would follow the Food Pyramid where the most you should eat are carbohydrates like rice and bread found at the bottom of the pyramid and the least are salts and fatty foods at the top of the pyramid. You should plan what you eat every week, and make sure you eat in moderation. Just because it says an apple a day is good for you doesn’t mean you should eat pounds of it every single day.

The second way would be to exercise. Take note that exercise does not mean the same thing as bodybuilding—exercise is toning your muscles while bodybuilding is increasing the size of the muscles. There are a few fundamentals of exercise that will help you achieve it easily in the best way: frequency, intensity, and duration. Frequency pertains to how often you exercise—everyday, once a week, on weekends… Intensity refers to how hard your exercise is—don’t tire yourself out; if your muscles start hurting in a way they’re not supposed to, stop. And duration simply means how long your exercise lasts (usually 10-15 minutes of jogging is a good exercise).

The third and most ignored way is to have a regular sleep pattern. When you sleep, your body starts to repair itself. For children this process starts at around eight o’ clock at night to four o’ clock in the morning; for adults it is nine o’ clock to three o’ clock. Each organ and muscle in your body repairs itself at a specific time. For example, the liver heals at nine o’ clock; if your sleep at ten, then your liver would not have had a chance to heal. That is why it is important to have a good night sleep.

These are the three most basic ways to achieve Physical Fitness. If you continue to treat yourself like you should, then you should be able to achieve it in no time. And who knows? You might even find yourself gloating to those crash-dieting body-building mile-running people about your healthy body.