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Importance of physical activity to the body
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Exercise and Disease Prevention
Over the past century we have become increasingly sedentary due to the technical advancements of today's world. Ironically, while machines and improvements in transportation and communication have made our lives easier, studies show that the decline in our physical activity associated with these advancements plays a large role in the decline of our health.
A Surgeon General's report (Anonymous,1996) addresses the finding that continuous and consistent physical activity is proven to enhance longevity and the quality of life for people of all ages. Furthermore, the report notes that although it has been recognized for years that regular physical activity can lead to substantial health benefits, 60% of American adults are not regularly active, and 25% of the adult population are not active at all. Paffenbarger (1996) states that physical fitness and exercise can reduce the risk of diseases such as heart disease, non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, some cancers, osteoarthritis and osteoporosis, and obesity. Studies also show that exercise can promote psychological well-being and reduce feelings of anxiety and depression (http://www.medgraph.com/aboutexercise.html).
The effects of exercise on health risk factors for a few days or weeks may not strike a person as significant, however, physical inactivity over a long period of time, say twenty years, adds up. For example, walking for one hour a day for five days burns about 2000 calories a week. Over a course of a year, a person performing this level of activity would burn about 96,000 calories (http;//www.ccn.cs.dal.ca/Health/CPRC/exercise.html) The negative effects of physical inactivity do add up and influence our health and our lives....
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McCandless used the idea of escaping society from “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau and tried to mesh it together with the ideas of solitude and isolation to form his own beliefs. McCandless misinterpreted what Thoreau was saying. Thoreau states, “I had not lived there a week…It is true, I fear, that others may have fallen into it, and so helped to keep it open.” (Thoreau 3).Thoreau specifically states in this quote that he does not want others to follow or even go do what he did. He also did build the cabin a few miles away from a town because he knew he would go back one day. Thoreau was a sane person in doing this because crazy people stray too far away from society despite the consequences. He believed that he had other things to do with his life and not spending a minute more in that lifestyle. McCandless still went out into the wilderness away from society against Thoreau’s words. Chris was crazy to shun s...
Barnes PM, Schoenborn CA. Physical activity among adults: United States, 2000. Advance data from vital and health statistic; no. 333. Hyattsville, Maryland: National Center for Health Statistic. 2003.
In Thoreau’s works Walden, he advertised the notion of leaving the world behind to find our true selves and Chris did just that. Chris was a intelligent man who could have gone on to have seemingly whatever he wanted, but instead he chose to distance himself from society as a whole. Chris was rather cruel though, he left his entire family behind without even a simple goodbye. One can see just how devastating that was throughout the movie as Chris’s sister is the narrator and often spoke longingly about his brother. Originally this was something that a person such as Thoreau may commend as Thoreau stated in Walden that “society is commonly too cheap.” Thoreau believed that men and women interacted with each other so frequently that all interactions had lost their meaning, that society had no value. Chris believed in this too and rebelled against society. Along his way, Chris abandons everyone who tried to help him from Rainey, a traveling
...ll, B, Willett, W, Manson, J, Leitzmann, M, Stampfer, M, Hunter, D, & Colditz, G (2001), 'Physical activity and mortality: a prospective study among women', American Journal Of Public Health, 91, 4, pp. 578-583
Christopher McCandless’ long, fascinating, but ultimately fatal journey into the wilderness of Alaska is depicted in the biography, Into the Wild, written by Jon Krakauer. Late in the of summer of 1990, a very young Christopher McCandless left his ordinary world in Annandale, Virginia to pursue a solitary life in the untamed wilds of Alaska. Many will insinuate that Christopher McCandless’ actions were childish and idiotic, but a stronger argument would be that his unconventional thinking and desire to live life on his own terms allowed him to reach self-actualization.
As McCandless neared the end of his high school years he decided he didn’t want to go to college as he thought it would be, “pointless, a waste of time and money” but surprisingly, he yielded to his parents’ wishes and,“ended up going to Emory”(114). This departure from following his views of the world and allowing himself to submit to ideas that he didn’t really believe in characterizes McCandless in a much more pragmatic light. He may have realized that he was much more dependent on his parents in his day to day life or that college may help him advance his ideals with other like minded people. So instead of fanatically following his ideals to the extreme McCandless decided to keep those ideals with him and act upon them later when he felt the time was right. This would explain his sudden disappearance to go on his Alaskan odyssey many years later as he never let go of his pre-college ideals but rather hid them away temporarily. Chris had a multitude of ideals about the world and others, but he seemed to ignore
O’Connor, Kate. ed. A Brief Biography of James Joyce. 2011. The James Joyce Centre. 27
... fascination with distance, speed and time is categorically evident in the way that our cities are run. Dominated by machines that create both environmental and health issues. This review has attempted to outline the health benefits of cycling and critique them through scientific evidence. The evidence that Tranter, Bannister, Racioppi, Tight and Lindsay attempt to illustrate, is essentially a shift from a sedentary lifestyle to a more active one. Plato was perhaps well ahead of his time in stating that the "lack of activity [in society] destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it” (Plato, 427-347 BCE). This encompasses and summarises all the physical and mental impacts cycling plays on the body and this review demonstrates how easy it is to change this epidemic of obesity through cycling.
[Topic Justification] Lack of physical exercises is a public health issue that has led to a considerable increase in the cost of healthcare expenditure. The affected people will be dependent on the society for upkeep and healthcare and, thus, reduce the rate of productivity.
This descriptive epidemiological review article provides data on physical activity and exercise training in the United States. This analysis will identify the description of the health outcome on descriptive data terms of the article such as person, place, and time. First, the person's (test subjects) used are characterized according to the standard variables and demographics including age, gender, race/ethnicity, occupation, and education. The article used participants ages 6 - +75 measuring their physical activity and exercise training based on their age.
In conclusion, the most evident theme in this story is that everyone have problems mentally, that they need to overcome. Christopher, the mother, and the father are examples supporting this theme. Although, Christopher finds it difficult to recognize emotions, follow instructions, talk to strangers etc. he tries hard to overcome it. His behavioral problems, and care for others has improved over time proving that overtime his problems can be fixed. Ed Boone, the father has problem managing his emotions and often gets out of control but tries to control them for his son's sake. The mother, Judy Boone, faces problems with impatience but after parting with Christopher, shows significant improvement in her patience levels. Overall, no matter how bad a psychological problem is, there is always a way out if given time.
Physical activity is an important factor that determines how healthy an individual is. To achieve a high level of wellness, one must take part in physical activity on a regular basis. Many people see exercise as a burden, and as annoying activity that forces them to leave the comfort of the indoors. What these people do not realize is that a sedentary lifestyle increases ones risk for many negative health conditions, and that these conditions can be averted by taking part in fun activities. Exercise is very important, and does not have to be challenging, or difficult. It can take the form of enjoyable sports and activities that make exercising a lot easier
"Physical Activity and Public Health." Scholar Commons of South Carolina. American Heart Association, 2007. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.
There exists various lifestyles and behaviours, ranging from amount of nutrition intake, mental well-being, to the amount of physical activity engaged individually. Weighing the abundance of factors, this essay primarily aims to focus on the aspect of physical activity in relevance to how it possibly affects one's lifestyle. By cross-referencing to other lifestyles and behaviours, this essay will also demonstrate the importance of physical activity in possibly alleviating the issues raised pertaining to other lifestyles as well. Throughout this essay, there will be frequent references to the socio-ecological framework in examining the aforementioned factors.
Physical fitness have numerous benefits including muscle strength, muscular endurance, brain activity, preventing obesity and lowering risk or major body problems. Reduces gaining weight, improves losing weight and less likely to have accidents later in life. Also improves ones lifespan, living a healthier life and improves sleeping. Physical activity helps reduce ones stress, anxiety, and depression also improves over all life. A half hour or so of physical activity daily can yield benefits. Also can improve ones flexibility (Brezina), which can effe...