Pros And Cons Of Exercise

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).

One of the studies showed that a combination of exercise and counseling was more effective than counseling alone (Rueter et al. 1982). Martinsen et al (1985) divided a group of 23 participants with clinical depression into two groups – (i) a control group of 14 patients and (ii) a exercise group of 9 patients who were given TCAs (Tricyclic antidepressants) to augment treatment. It was seen that both the group showed similar improvement in depressive symptoms. This does show that exercise has an impact that is as good as medication to lower depressive

A growing epidemic in America is depression. Physicians are able to prescribe drugs to help with the symptoms of depression, but other therapeutic methods have been studied and show great results in recovery. Therapeutic Physical Fitness has shown to reduce depression and anxiety. Ihas been confirmed through experiments that physical exercise can be as effective as antidepressant drugs and some cases suggest that it better prevents symptom recurrence.

Heladóttír, Hallgren, Ekblom, Forsell (2016) sought to find an optimal dosage of exercise to elicit positive responses in those diagnosed with depression using three varying intensities. With frequency and duration kept consistent, 620 participants, including ages 18 to 67, were randomly assigned different treatment groups. These included (1) continuing their usual treatment, (2) light exercise like yoga, (3) moderate aerobic exercise, and (4) vigorous aerobic exercise. The training program lasted for 12 weeks, requiring subjects to exercise 55 minutes 3 times a week. The researchers measured depression severity at baseline and post-treatment while monitoring heart rate during every session using a monitor. Following the conclusion of the study, the results indicated that depression severity decreased in al exercise groups. However, the optimal dosage for exercise prescription remains uncertain. These findings suggest that light exercise, such as yoga, were more beneficial than the other intensities

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 has been defined as “bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that results in energy expenditure”. There is no debate about the value

“Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading; I will rather say more necessary, because health is worth more than learning,” by Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States. The importance of exercising is critical, especially for the youth. Without the proper amount of exercising, kids are at risk with for serious health problems like heart disease, and cancer.

This was a cross-sectional study that took place in the early 70’s, with the connection between physical activity and helping combat depression in the elderly demographic. The value of exercise is widely known for a plethora of reasons, but in regard to depression it has been an invaluable outlet for many; “increased feelings of self-efficacy, self- perceptions of control and mastery, reduced physiologic responses to stress, and beneficial effects on neurotransmitters such as increased serotonin and endorphins” (Kritz-Silverstein, Barrett-Connor, & Corbeau, 2001, p. 596).

Physical activity has been proven to have phenomenal benefits on the human body and is an important part of a balanced lifestyle. Statistics have shown that regular exercise can prevent illness and lower one’s likelihood of being diagnosed with a series of diseases significantly. It has been ‘medically proven’ that regular exercise can reduce a subject’s chance of being diagnosed with coronary heart disease or stroke by 35%, type two diabetes by 50%, colon cancer by 50%, breast cancer by 20%, early death by 30%, osteoarthritis by 83% and a number of other life threatening illnesses. Regular exercise can improve a person’s overall wellbeing and immunity to common illnesses. During physical activity, a person’s heart rate can increase significantly and allow more oxygenated blood to be supplied to muscles. A person’s breathing rate can increase during exercise and supply more oxygen to the lungs. The increased blood flow during exercise allows the brain to function better. Exercise has many benefits to the human body and is a major factor of disease

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.

The benefits of physical exercise in humans far outweighs the harmful effects associated with exercise. A prescription of physical activity has been known to delay the onset or prevention of many chronic diseases. An improvement in heart function, lower blood pressure and improve functional capacity is noticed after just a few weeks of exercising. Physical activity will also result in an increase of lean muscle mass, promote weight maintenance, increased flexibility, and a generally stronger more fit individual. Conversely, exercise when preformed strenuously or obsessively can counteract such positive effects, bringing up some issues like oxidative stresses, injuries, 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.

They found that an exercise training programme could be an alternative treatment for MDD. Although antidepressants had a more rapid response than exercise, after 16 weeks of exercise the effectiveness in reducing depression was equal to the anti-depressants. A study also found that a single bout of exercise could result in substantial improvements in mood, which shows that it’s not just duration and frequency. However, it may be that the improvement in mood is only temporary (Dimeo et al., 2001). Lawler and Hopker (2001) stated that effectiveness of exercise on depression couldn’t be determined due to lack of quality research based on clinical populations. They also wrote that the explanations of the results may have been that depressed patients who did regular exercise could have got positive feedback from other people and a sense of self worth, which may act as a diversion from negative thoughts. Physical activity was found to be linked with less coexisting depression, which remains the same after controlling for gender, age, and race. The results of the study showed that physical activity is helpful with medical problems, life stressors and quality of sleep (Harris et al., 2006).

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.

Exercise may be one of the most important influences on your overall health to date. While the only benefits that are mainly focused on are the physical benefits, significant psychological impacts can also be linked to exercise. Although some of these benefits aren’t viewed with much enthusiasm, studies have proven that exercise can actually improve one’s quality of life greatly by increasing not only their physical health but their mental health as well. It is because of this that exercise is a