Christopher Flores
March 8, 2011
Mr. Haile
1301.155
Exercise for the Body You know exercise is good for you -- but do you know how good? At its most basic, exercise is any type of physical exertion we perform in an effort to improve our health, shape our bodies, and boost performance (Waehner, Web). Adults, men and women, and teens both benefit from exercise and physical activity in many different ways. Exercise should play a key role in everyone’s daily life, not only does it boost self esteem, it also improves mental health and helps prevent depression, heart disease, cardiovascular disease, Type II Diabetes, and, as always, obesity. Most people agree that even though they may not look forward to doing a workout, they tend to
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In addition, high levels of stress have been linked to weight gain. Whether it’s hitting the gym, swimming a couple laps in your pool, or even taking a brisk walk around your neighborhood, exercise improves mental health and helps prevent depression and anxiety. Exercise is a distraction that can get you away from the cycle of negative thoughts that feed anxiety and depression. When one is active, blood and oxygen flow to the brain are increased, growth factors that help create new nerve cells increase to promote plasticity, and chemicals in the brain increase that help cognition, such as, dopamine, serotonin, and glutamate (Physical Exercise, Web). As exercise is increased, energy levels and serotonin are increased, which leads to improved mental clarity (Sarnataro, Web). Studies show that exercise boosts activity in the brains frontal lobes and the hippocampus. Doing something positive to manage anxiety or depression is a healthy coping strategy. Trying to feel better by drinking alcohol, dwelling on how badly you feel, or hoping anxiety or depression will go away on their own can lead to worsening symptoms. Self-esteem is defined as the experience of being capable of meeting life’s challenges and being worthy of happiness (Fresh, Web). Developing healthy self-esteem is a critical component of program aimed at self-improvement. In those who work out in the morning, endorphins, a
Critically Analyse the Research Findings on the Acute and Chronic Effects of Exercise on Anxiety and Depression
Since 1990s, many scientists agree that exercise has positive impacts on people’s physical health and mental health (SIME WE, 1987). From Morgan and O’Connor’s research, people can reduce stress and state anxiety by doing physical activities; also gain emotional pleasure from the process (Morgan and O’Connor, 1988). Later in 1997, Landers states that physical activities can reduce people depression after weeks of regular and routine exercise. In addition, people can benefit from more
Physical activity is able to shift neurons in your brain from a revved, stressed state-more vulnerable to dangerous cardiac rhythms and heart attacks-to a relaxed state.
Exercise also helps to create a high content of other chemicals in the brain, such as dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, all which regulate the body and brain in different ways (Collins). Serotonin livens a person’s mood, while also helping to regulate sleep, develop their memory and learning abilities, and create or maintain certain social behaviors (Bouchez). Increased levels of these chemicals help people with mental illnesses respond to stressful situations in a more acceptable fashion, helping them to transition back into normal society quicker.
Many people look for an activity that will better them in every way possible; weightlifting is the greatest activity in the world for such goals! Weightlifting yields so many benefits and it can improve the quality of life for anyone who can do it. Weightlifting is one of the activities that, in conjunction with other exercise and proper diet, will improve overall health, physical performance, and mentality.
Some hypothesize that moderate levels of exercise will decrease the symptoms of mental health conditions (Blumenthal et al., 2007; Diaz & Motta, 2008; Motta, Kuligowski, & Marino, 2010; Rosenbaum, Nguyen, Lenehan, Tiedemann, van der Ploeg, & Sherrington, 2011) and therefore be used as an alternative or complimentary treatment option for mental health (Libby, Pilver, & Desai, 2012).
General recommendations are now widely accepted as to the general advantages of exercise in terms of physical health, such as its ability to prevent weight gain, coronary heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and osteoporosis.14 It appears that health promotion schemes have shied away from extolling exercise’s psychological benefits. After all, there is no government campaign, no public policy initiative, which pontificates exercise on account of a concern for mental wellbeing. Although many people would identify that exercise has a positive influence on mood state, it appears that, generally speaking, this is regarded as a positive correlation, rather than a causal relationship. The ‘healthy body, healthy mind’ concept is thus, for many, a heuristic utopia, rather than a scientifically proven
During childhood our body and mind changes very fast. I believe that nowadays parents focus more on the brain developement of their children than their physical activity. When I was a little girl - over 20 years ago - we spent most of our time outside playing, running and enjoying fresh air and being in movement. Physical activity of children can secure them health and well being in their adulthood as well as teach them a lot of very importants aspects like social relations and behaviors in different situations.
Exercise is one of the most important factors in a persons’ life. Physical activity, or the lack of it, can result in a person having a healthy life or cause them to have diabetes. The benefits of exercise are countless. The positive health results, the improvement in attitude, even better academic performance are all factors which make not exercising inexcusable.
There is a very complex relationship between stressful situations, our mind and body’s reaction to stress and the onset of depression. Some people develop depression after going through stressful events in their lives, such as the death of someone close, loss of job and other negative and traumatic problems that can cause large amount of stress (Prentiss, 2009). These problems make us experience a mixture of physical and emotional effects that can create stress as a positive or negative feeling. The human body is designed to experience and react to stress; it can be both a positive and negative influence. Positive stress can give a person the drive and
Physical Activity is undeniably good for everyone, not only does it keep you fit and healthy but when started at a young age, it can set up good habits for life. Sometimes however, people do not take care of their physical wellbeing, resulting in obesity and other eating disorders which can be detrimental to their health.
Do you need some motivation to get off the couch and begin exercising? Maybe you have started to work out and then stopped your work out routine so many times that you cannot keep track of the number of programs you have tried. Well you are not alone. In fact, by statistics that would make you an average American. All the same, working out for the sake of health and well-being is becoming increasingly important as we continue to learn the effects of inactivity. There are many benefits that arrive from the presence of exercise in your daily routine. Improve strength, improved cardiovascular fitness, and an improved immune system are just three of the MANY benefits that come from exercise and activity. I will tell you a little bit more
Adding exercises into one’s daily routines can change their whole lifestyle. Many people look at exercise as being something just for people who want to lose weight or to become muscle bound, but there are a great deal of benefits that can be received from exercising regularly. Of course gaining muscle and losing fat are the two most popular reasons that usually attract people to the gym, but they make up a small part of the potential benefits that can be achieved with exercise. There are several ways in which I have benefited in my life from exercising regularly, besides just making me bigger and stronger. It has made me become more organized, helped me make better decisions, and motivated me to take on new challenges in life.
We are all aware that exercise helps you physically. A big portion of us are ignorant to the fact that exercise can help you mentally as well. I say ignorant because well all know that exercise is physically helpful, but are unaware that it also helps us in our everyday thinking. Exercise helps us release stress, which helps us be calm and make wiser decisions without overthinking any situation. Many of us, or if not all of us, have experienced or are experiencing stress of some sort. Instead of crying and staying in bed having bad thoughts, you should go for a jog or even a walk will help. Keep in mind that exercise does not always have to be weights, gym. Neither does it have a time limit. What I mean is that you can do exercise for as little as twenty minutes, or as much as two hours or more. Anything that is physical is exercise. Therefore, you can use exercise as a “tool” to writing a very good paper. Exercise can help improve your writing because it will help you be more creative, and it will help you mentally.
Self-esteem is a general evaluation of one’s worth as a person and according to Uszyńska-Jarmoc, (2007), takes the form of a desire to improve, guard, and defend the