Always remember that before starting to exercise it is important that we stretch our muscles to warm them up, otherwise we might get hurt. Exercise is important, but should however be complemented by a healthy diet.
Have you seen Wudy’s picture? Isn’t he cute? Wudy is a seven-year-old dog who needs a home urgently. Whoever is willing to help should contact Ruth on her email (found in the article).
In this week’s issue we announce the winners of the Be Art Smart competitions that we had a few weeks ago. Well done to Gabriel and Genise who were the winners of a fantastic prize courtesy of Galea Art Studio of Valletta.
Just a quick reminder on our Mother’s Day competition. Mother’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May and for your mothers we have an Antonio Banderas Spirit for Women Gift Set courtesy of Ta’ Xbiex Perfumery Ltd. So start sending us your messages for your mother either via email or through the post. All messages together with the winning message will be published in our 10 May issue.
See you next Thursday
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Why is exercise good for us?
Exercise is a physical activity that involves repetitive bodily movement done to improve or maintain our body in muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility and body composition. Exercise is made for the sake of good health.
Regular exercise is important because it keeps bones, joints and muscles healthy. During any physical exertion, the rate at which the heart beats increases, as it pumps more oxygenated blood around the body. How quickly the heart rate returns to normal after exercise is one way to assess how fit someone is and how exercise is actually improving their fitness.
Once almost everyone did manual work of some kind. It was essential for survival. Human bodies were not designed for the inactive lives many of us now lead. That is why exercise is important for good health.
Why do muscles ache after exercise?
When you exercise your muscles contract and produce an acid known as lactic acid. This acid acts like “poison”. The effect of this lactic acid is to make you tired, by making muscles feel tired. If the acid is removed from a tired muscle, it stops feeling tired and can go right to work again.
So feeling tired after muscular exercise is really the result of a kind of internal “poisoning” that goes on in the body. But the body needs this feeling of tiredness so that it will want to rest. During rest the joints of the body replace the supplies of lubricants they have used up.
Fact file
Swimming is a very good form of exercise as it uses lots of muscles without causing strain.
Fact file
It is important to stretch your muscles before and after exercise to distribute the lactic acid.
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Happy Birthday
Belated birthday wishes to JOSEPH AGIUS who was three on 24 April. Lots of love and best wishes from mama, papa, sister Martina, nanna Doris, nanna Jane, nannu Wallace and all the family.
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Be Art Smart
The following are the two winning entries in the
Be Art Smart competitions which were carried a few weeks ago
We would like to congratulate all those who participated especially Gabriel Bonanno and Genise Mifsud who were our winners and each won a prize courtesy of Galea Art Studios of Valleta. Look out for more competitions in the coming weeks.
‘Weeping Woman’ competition
My story about this lady is that she passed from a very bad experience, a traumatic one. The colours that Pablo Picasso used are significant symbolism. She is crying and although very lovely, she looks very sad. She has had two children and they were boys. They were very close to her. But one of them met a lovely Australian girl and they fell in love. She had to leave Malta and Sam, her son decided to leave Malta too, to go after her. And she weeps every time she thinks about Sam, because mums are great and they love their children, even dads.
The shapes are so much triangular and that means that before they were square; mum, dad, Sam and Michael. Now without Sam they became a triangle.
by Gabriel Bonanno
‘Autumn Scenery of River and Village’ competition
In this landscape of a Chinese painting there are a few differences to our landscape. First there is the river gushing down the hill. No such thing here! The houses too are quite different from ours. They have nice curved roofs as the snow falls heavily in winter. The profuse vegetation and rambling flowers make this a delightful landscape which I wish we could enjoy on our island. I suppose the rich people such as a mandarin would live in these types of houses which would be equal to our “villas”. I think that the painter Ding Jianhong used water colours for his painting as this is a favourite medium in Chinese art. If I were living there I would eagerly be awaiting the coming of spring for then we would hold colourful festivals and people will come from far and near to watch and take part. Wonderful sweets and food would be distributed, especially among the poor who would come and help put up decorations on the houses and trees which will look like fairytale houses with hundreds of bright lanterns. At the end of the weeklong merry-makings, a dragon monster is set on fire.
Now that spring is here we can use our boats to travel along the river to go to the big towns for food and all that we need now is that the harsh cold winter months are over. However, I would always come back to my big nice cosy home as it is so beautiful and peaceful here, up on the verdant hills.
by Genise Mifsud* * *
Wudy needs our help
Wudy is a seven-year-old dog who needs a home urgently as his present owner regretfully cannot take care of him anymore. Wudy’s future is very bleak and he depends on our support and help.
Please pass on this message and whoever is interested to have Wudy as a friend please contact Ruth on: [email protected].