The Effects Of Riding A Bicycle For Recreation

As of 2011, it has been reported that there are 650 million disabled people in the world (“Disabilities”). Though this number is high, it is greatly underestimated because disabled people are commonly isolated and stigmatized by their community (“Disabilities”). After hearing of this extremely high number of disabled people, I then ultimately decided I would write my research paper on ways to help the disabled. Therapeutic riding has been actively helping individuals with disabilities for decades, and can benefit these unfortunate people physically, mentally, and emotionally. “Therapeutic riding, which originated in Europe, has been actively helping individuals with disabilities since the 1950's” (Shepard). Through equine-orientated

Participation in youth sports in the United States is on the rise. “Organized youth sports are highly popular for youth and their families, with approximately 45 million children and adolescent participants in the US” (Merkel, 2013). There are many benefits for children that can be attributed to sports such as: physical activity, learning motor skills, sense of belonging, stress relief, and many more. With childhood obesity on the rise recreational sports has never been needed more than it is today. “Over the past three decades, the incidence of obesity in children has tripled, with one of every three children being affected” (Merkel, 2013). Obesity has many long-term health problems related to it such as: diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure cancer, asthma. We can attribute this health problem to changes in our society over like increased technology, increased crime rates, fast food and isolated suburban neighborhoods. Sports and other physical activities are needed to keep children from causing further damaged to their future.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “Increasing physical activity among youth is an essential component of the broad strategy needed to curb the obesity epidemic” (CITATION). The AAP goes on to encourage different forms of physical activity, whether it’s joining a sport, taking part in extracurricular activities or even participating in gym class and to start this routine from childhood. When experimenting to see the impact that sports and extracurriculars made on a person’s health, they stated, “Our findings supports previous research demonstrating sports were related to substantially lower risk of both overweight/obesity and obesity” (CITATION). While other factors play a big part in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, childhood is a crucial point because that’s when the body is nurturing, which is why there should be more budgeting towards helping those who are unable to

As mentioned previously, exercise is seen as one of the cornerstones of a healthy life. A review of 86 scientific papers concerning exercise benefits in school age children, conducted by Janssen and Leblanc, found that children aged 15-17 “should accumulate an average of at least 60 minutes per day and up to several hours of at least moderate intensity physical activity”(Janssen and Leblanc, 1). In fact, even a more modest level of activity would be sufficient in battling health risks, such as

Physical Activity (PA) has many benefits on our health, and importance of this has to be clearly communicated (House of Commons Health Committee 2015). Therefore, the purpose of this report is to discuss relationship between PA, health and diseases along with specific references to the current United Kingdom (UK) health status. This report will also explain two examples of social determinants of health, to show the impact failing to reach government guidelines has on remaining healthy.

America's children are not getting enough exercise, and the health risks due to obesity are becoming epidemic in nature. Even First Lady Michelle Obama is supporting an initiative to help children become more active and to provide for exercise (at least 30-60 minutes per day) in all schools. Even limited amounts of exercise can have great health benefits. When humans exercise, the brain produces chemicals that help enhance mood, limit cravings for sugars, and contribute to healthier joints, muscles, the heart, and kidneys. In turn, this translates into more productive work time, the ability to sleep better, increase memory, and reduce dependence on medications. Children are so vulnerable to this health risk that if it continues, over 60% of graduating seniors will be clinically obese. Written by a medical journalist, the book is designed for the lay reader but has a number of documented scholarly sources.

Owning a car can be a burden on an owner; they are very expensive to purchase, and require additional money for insurance, gas, and maintenance for the vehicle. Furthermore, encouraging people to bike and walk to nearby destinations rather than drive there could help resolve America’s obesity epidemic. In What Is the Total Cost of Owning a Car, the author provides information relating to various, auxiliary car expenses that can add up to appalling amounts. She says, “For an average vehicle that’s driven 15,000 miles a year, all costs of ownership added up to $8,698 a year, according to AAA’s 2015 Your Driving Costs study. That’s about $725 a month” (Lee). This means that it costs drivers a yearly average of nearly $9,000 to own and operate a car, let alone purchase one. By restricting the use of cars, people could save these expenses and put that money towards travelling, a new home, or other luxuries. On top of expenses, driving cars promotes unhealthy habits and contributes to problems for overweight Americans. In Mapping the Link Between Obesity and Car Driving, the author describes the correlation between cars and obesity, and how bikes can help resolve the crisis. She writes, “It stands to reason that the less you bike or walk, the more you drive. And the more you drive, the less exercise you get from the aforementioned activities” (Schwartz). The author also provides maps that illustrate links between areas with high percentages of obese adults and high percentages of people who drive to work. These two pieces of evidence demonstrate how slowly incorporating bikes instead of cars (for short trips) into a person’s life can have incredible health benefits. By restricting cars, people would be encouraged to utilize these alternate, healthy forms of transportation and ultimately enhance their lives. Notwithstanding, some people feel banning cars would make long distance

But one of the articles grabbed captured my attention. The article is titled “Get Fit on the Fly” by Juno Demelo edited by Sara Austin and Danielle McNally. In this article the writer encourages and inspires women to get into cycling. Demelo tells them what to do and how to get started, such as buying equipment like locks, backpacks and clothing. They also answer questions and concerns on cycling such as one of the questions “I don’t want to get sweaty.” And they reply, “Follow these tips to prevent perspiration saturation. Slow your roll add about ten minutes to the estimated travel time so you can pedal at a comfortable pace.” They also had women tell their experiences after taking up cycling and they were quite satisfied. Mary-Frances Heck from Santa Cruz, California said, “I used to work in a kitchen, which kept me indoors for long hours, and I ended up being depressed and gaining weight. When I started riding my bike to work, it turned my mood around…and I lost thirty pounds!” I was very satisfied with how this Cosmo article will help women lose weight and get started with a healthy hobby that’s beneficial for the reader’s health and life; instead of selling them a slimming

Sports, play time, and eating healthy are ways to prevent obesity and other diseases that can stem from lack of physical activity and a healthy diet. On average, adults should get about 150 hours per week of exercise, or some vigorous activity. Children should get about 60 minutes of physical activity or play time at least three days out of the week. Even though there are pros and cons of different exercises and sports Americans can still help out their bodies for the better. Playing sports and exercising are shown to improve the way people think, act, and how they perform their daily lives, especially for children and teenagers. Marianne Engle author of “Kids and Sports” confirms “Kids who do sports build muscle, improve reflexes, attention span, focus, thinking, and reduces the likelihood of obesity (Engle Marianne

Physical activity is essential for children; therefore sport participation has many physical benefits for youths (Willox, 1994). In the United States there is a very unhealthy trend of physically unfit children going on. According to a recent study by the Harvard School of Public Health seven out of ten kids in our nation are out of shape and the incidence of obesity has increased by more than 50 percent among America's children and teen since 1976 and continues to grow at a staggering rate (Metzel & Shookhoff, 2006). When children participate in sports activities they get some of the exercise they need to improve their quality of life and can help prevent children from becoming obese. Physical activity regulates obesity because it increases energy expenditure, suppresses appetite, increases metabolic rate, and increases lean body mass (Willox, 1994). Even though regular physical sport activity has been shown to improve physical fitness, it can also help in preventing many different health problems down the line that youths who participate in sports are more likely not to develop than youths who do not participate in sports. Women who participated in organized sport and fitness programs as

By making use of the information and research published in the “Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Internal Medicine”, the writer of the media article “Vigorous exercise helps people live longer” intends to promote the idea that “Vigorous exercise… may be better than moderate exercise when it comes to avoiding early death” [1]. The author expresses their opinions in an informative and encouraging tone in an attempt to influence the reader into either adopting or maintaining a “high-benefit, low-risk nature of exercise” [2]. The article isn’t stigmatising a particular patient group as “the benefits of vigorous activity applies to men and women of all ages”, regardless of an individual’s health condition (e.g. Obesity, diabetes). In the study conducted above, over 200,000 adults over the age of 45 and was conducted to examine whether “vigorous activity is associated with an all-cause mortality, independent of the total amount of MVPA (proportion of total moderate to vigorous activity)” [4]. The results of this study will capture the attention of the readers as it has been determined that those who implemented “vigorous exercise for 30 per cent of their weekly workouts – had a mortality rate that was nine to 13 percent lower than those who did moderate exercise”. As an increase in longevity is desirable to most individuals, they are shocked after being exposed to such statistics and are hence manipulated into implementing higher intensity exercises into their weekly regime. Although vigorous activity may sound

Physical Activity and its effects on the human body is a topic that is widely discussed in the field of epidemiology. Physical Activity is defined as any bodily movement a person makes that is produced by skeletal muscle and requires some sort of energy disbursement. This is vastly different when compared to the term: exercise, and can be characterized by a multitude of factors such as frequency, intensity, timing, and type (Dishman, Heath, & Lee, 2013, p. 565). When looking at the dose-response relationship between physical activity and the prevalence of chronic diseases, participation in higher recommendations of physical activity can result in the decrease of morbidity as well as mortality.

For instance, areas with safety concerns can discourage physical activity while areas with good pedestal connection can encourage more walking and bicycling for transportation. In terms of choice of food, poor and minority communities may not have equal access to the variety of healthy food choices available when compared to wealthy communities. (K. Morland, S. Wing, A. Diez-Roux, C. Poole, 2002) The built environment consist of urban design factors, land use, and available public transportation for a region, as well as the available activity options for people within that space (S.L. Handy, M.G. Boarnet, R. Ewing, R.E. Killingsworth, 2002). Promoting physical activity is of public health importance because of its health benefits. According to Bize, Johnson, Plotnikoff (2007), physical inactivity is associated with increased risks of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other chronic diseases. However, interest to participate in

1. Riding a bike is one of the easiest things one can do. It’s something we’ve all learned at a young age and it’s something you just don’t forget how to do. It’s also one of the easiest ways you can get in shape.

First off the benefits of biking are endless, there are constant good effects. Biking is wonderful for your physical health. You know that 60 minutes of physical activity a day you are supposed to have? Maybe you know what to do for those 60 minutes. Go for a bike ride! Biking is mainly an aerobic exercise, meaning it strengthens your heart, probably a pretty important part of your body huh? “Good for strength and stamina – cycling increases stamina, strength and aerobic fitness.” (Cycling pg.1) Its a great cardiovascular exercise. Biking will increase your strength and stamina. Biking is great for your personal goals. For more advanced bikers you can make it as intense as you want by going on trails and hills and stuff like that where if you are a beginner you can make it really easy by going on a flat road or land. Biking will also not only strengthen your muscles and improve your cardiovascular fitness and will improve your flexibility. Biking will strengthen your bones and improve your posture and coordination in your