The Contribution of Physical Exercise to Health and Well being

The major threats to health in the early 1900s was infectious diseases that are associated to poor hygiene and sanitation, poor infant and maternal health, nutritional deficiency diseases, and infections associated with dangerous occupations or places of work that are unsafe. However, the early public health system incorporated biomedical advances and developed interventions like programs to educate the public and health that saw a reduction in the effects of such diseases and infections. The major problem was in that the decrease in the impact of these diseases was accompanied by an increase in chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases. In the last half of the 20th century, public health professionals and researchers identified the risk factors associated with majority of the chronic diseases and made necessary interventions to reduce mortality.

The efforts of public health also saw a reduction in the number of deaths attributed to motor vehicle accidents. Various aspects of the health of an individual benefit from physical exercise. For example, one’s risk of developing such conditions as obesity and diabetes is reduced if they take part in regular physical exercise. This is because physical exercise burns any excess fat and prevents it from accumulating to levels that can cause obesity. The mental and psychological health is also improved through taking part in physical exercise because stress and depression are reduced through participation in physical exercise. Physical exercise also allows for the excretion of dangerous excretory compounds within the body through sweat. They also aid in the development of creativity.

This suggests that physical activity is a basic human function whose benefits can be seen across the lifespan. Goodwin (2006) states that youth that take part in physical activity have a lower chance of being depressed because physical activity has the effect of lowering stress and depression. Kwan, Faulkner, and Pullenayegum (2012) find out in their review of literature that when one decreases their physical activity, they are likely to engage in behaviors that are a risk to health such as alcoholism and smoking. According to Richardson, Faulkner, McDevitt, Skirinar, Hutchison, and Piette (2005), people who are mentally ill need to frequently contact their providers of health care because their reinforcement has a critical role to play in allowing these people to develop a long-term habit of taking part in physical exercise.

It has also been found that the time one spends sitting doing office work, watching the television, or playing games without taking short breaks is dangerous to the metabolic health of individuals, and this is independent of the total time spends in a sedentary manner. In young people, sitting for long periods of time has been related to particular disorders of the musculoskeletal system. From these results, it is evident that if people do not undertake to participate more in physical exercise, there may be many health complications that may become difficult to manage with time. This is because lack of physical exercise compromises even the most basic of the functions of the human body which is metabolism to keep life going.