Trey Lucas Mr.

Cooper Comp 1 26 November 2013

Physical Fitness

I chose to do my research paper on physical fitness after our class discussions on The Gaze and the idea of a utopia society. Physically fit actors and actresses are used throughout media giving Americans the impression that we should all conform to one look and anything other than that is taboo. My research paper gives insight in to a healthy life and unhealthy lifestyles and the changing American culture. Why is physical fitness important because many common health problems are the result of a sedentary lifestyle and they can be minimized or prevented by improving your physical fitness. Obesity opens the door to a array of diseases including high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer to name a few which all could be life threatening. Only one in three children is physically active every day.(Healthy People 2010) More than 80% of adults do not meet the guidelines for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities, and more than 80% of adolescents do not do enough aerobic physical activity to meet the guidelines for youth. (Healthy People 2010) Less than 5% of adults participate in 30 minutes of physical activity each day. Only 35 44% of adults 75 years or older are physically active, and 28-34% of adults ages 65-74 are physically active. (Healthy People 2010) Only one in three adults receives the recommended amount of physical activity each week. So you begin to wonder, overall is the world healthy enough? The rise of electronics and video games in the U.S the health of its younger citizens has

declined. Below there is ten reasons why fitness is essential and how they are important both short and long term. 1. You're more likely to live a long and healthy life. Regular exercise reduces the risk of developing heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer. It also reduces the risk of having a stroke. In one eight year study of more than 20,000 men, those who were lean but unfit had twice the risk of death as those who were lean and fit, 2. You'll have more energy, strength and stamina. People who complain that they don't have enough energy to exercise fail to realize that working out gives you energy. In one study, middle-aged women who lifted weights for a year became 27% more active in daily life than before they started lifting weights. Regular exercise also increases your strength and stamina, allowing you to better handle common activities such as carrying a heavy bag of groceries or climbing a flight of stairs. 3. You'll keep excess body fat off. If you try and lose weight simply by dieting, you'll lose some muscle along with any body fat you lose and you'll slow down your metabolism. If your weight loss program includes exercise, you'll lose body fat without losing muscle and without slowing down your metabolism. If you're currently at a healthy weight, regular exercise will help you avoid putting on excess body fat in the future. 4. You'll keep your bones strong.

Both men and women start losing bone mass around age 35. Lifting weights can not only stop the loss of bone mass, but in some cases it can even reverse it. This drastically reduces the risk of osteoporosis. Weight bearing exercises like walking and running also help keep bones strong. 5. You'll prevent or reduce low back pain. Strengthening your abdominal and lower back muscles can help prevent low back pain and it can also reduce discomfort if you already suffer from this pain. You might also be able to avoid back surgery by strengthening your abdominal and lower back muscles. In one study, 35 of 38 people who had been recommended for back surgery were able to avoid surgery by following an aggressive strengthening program. 6. You'll keep your mind sharp. Multiple studies have confirmed that regular exercise is one of the best things you can do for your mind. Regular exercise improves brain function, which helps prevent dementia and Alzheimer's disease. 7. You'll improve your mood. A large amount of research shows that you have a better sense of well-being following a workout. Thanks to chemicals released in the brain during exercise, feelings of depression, anxiety, stress and anger are diminished during a workout. 8. You'll get sick less often. Both aerobic exercise and weight lifting strengthen the immune system. The stronger your immune system, the less often you'll get sick.

9. You'll sleep better. People who exercise regularly fall asleep faster and wake up less often during the night than people who are sedentary. 10. You'll enjoy life more. Life is much more enjoyable when you're fit and healthy. You look good and you feel good, and you're more productive in everything you do. As you can see starting healthy balance in your life can be complicated initially. The human body is made to move; therefore you need to have a certain amount of physical exercise daily. However, you dont have to be an Olympic athlete. Not saying that you have to join a gym and do hours of rigorous activity, but anything is better than not doing anything. Just a simple bike ride, running, walking or even just stretching can all contribute to minimizing the risk of injury. None of us need to strive to be a runway model, but strive to be healthy as you can be. Do it for the pleasure of it and think long term because it is not always going to be enjoyable. Today the portion sizes of some foods especially fast foods are many times what they were just twenty or even ten years ago. So be prepared to deal with the worlds unhealthy lifestyle. Lots of people like to claim that individuals must take personal responsibility for how much they eat an exercise, and if a person becomes overweight, it is his or her own fault. This may sound reasonable at first, but taking personal responsibility can be much more difficult than it seems. Thats because in America today there are all kinds of factors influencing the way you live your life, including the choices you make about food and activity. Living the Sedentary Lifestyle

Decreasing activity and increasing dependence on portion size on fast foods is astonishing. The human body was not made to be desecrated. Yet sedentary activity takes up a majority of peoples time. Human society today has a strong contrast to American society to American back then. We have transformed from calorie-burning to a calorie storage society. Much of the activity they partake in involved some sort of exercise. So why has the American lifestyle changed so drastically for the past fifty or sixty years? Many factors have coalesced to produce our incentive lifestyles. Maybe the most critical invention is the vehicle. True enough we need transportation and have to move around expeditiously, but people are spending more time in their cars than ever! Technology in the workplace has increased the American sedentary rate, jobs that once took humans physical ability is now being done by a machine. In result to the technology more and more humans sit behind desk from 9-5 with one break which is ironically to get food. We might be the heaviest people in the world, but we also spend the most the most money trying to slim down. Children and their Health Young children are leading increasingly sedentary lives, with physical activity frequently displaced by television viewing, internet surfing, and video gaming (Myers, Strikmiller, Webber, & Berenson, 1996).Video game and software companies alike have began to come out with video games that make children get off the couch and move with games such as Wii Sports, with the hopes to simulate the same effect as going out and playing. As a child growing up I was always outside playing with friends now instead of outside play dates theyve migrated inside. I believe the parents have the power to change that by encouraging their kids to go outside. Much concern has surfaced for this lifestyle change as childhood obesity has risen greatly in the last 10 years (World Health Organization, 2000). Within the school context,

incorporating physical activity or fitness training is a likely means to improve the physical health status of children (Haskell, 1994) as well as cognitive performance (Sibley &Etnier, 2003) and attention and concentration (Hillman, Castelli, & Buck, 2005; Shephard, 1996; Taras, 2005). Many organizations have pitched in to help with the effort to decrease the childhood obesity rate such as Nickelodeon the popular children network and the NFL with their World Wide day of Play and Play 60 campaigns. Unfortunately, American public school administrators have been decreasing the time allowed for physical education in order to devote more time to the direct instruction of core subject areas (Coe, Pivamik, Womack, Reeves, & Malina, 2006; Shephard, 1997). Public schools have made an effort in changing their lunch menus to include healthy alternatives, which is usually off set by the nearest fast food chain where a burger is only a dollar. In addition, physical education classes are not always centered on physical activity that involves everyone (Block & Burke, 1999). In elementary through middle school health or P.E was a class we attended every other week which made it hard to sustain healthy workout habits. Once in High school the health classes were broke in two grading periods with only one requiring any physical activity. If it wasnt for little league and school football while I was growing up I wouldnt have met the exercise requirements needed to stay healthy. Last, researchers have even suggested that physical education classes do not provide students with an environment to which vigorous prolonged physical activity is possible (Crews, Lochbaum, & Landers, 2004). Physical activity in schools could have a positive correlation on grades and scores; Researchers have demonstrated that physical activity is related to improved cognitive performance, and at least two avenues for physical activity in young children (free play and directed play or physical education) appear especially important. The investigation of whether physical education, as it is currently and typically implemented in schools, is as important as

vigorous physical activity in the prediction of academic achievement can provide valuable information to school administrators. The purpose of these studies were to evaluate physical education and physical activity to young children and academic achievements. Physical fitness has played a pivotal role in my life. I have always pushed myself to have a great body or be physically fit. When I was in my early high school days, I didnt buy in to what my father was trying to prepare me for. So he consistently preached to me about being in tip-top physical condition. Hard work beats talent, my father would say. It never really sank in, until one day I finally gave in to his plan because I mean he was a personal trainer. A frustrating task initially, but I knew it would all pay off for me with my sports. With my talent, strong workethic, and my father, I thrived on and off the field. So overall, he gets all of my credit other than the man upstairs because with him pushing me to succeed, and our strong will for me to be better, I made it here, at the Webb.

Works Cited Page "Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention N.p., 12 July 2013. Web. 21 July 2013. Coe, D. P., Pivarnik, J. M., Womack, C. J., Reeves, M. J. & Malina, R. M. Effect of Physical education and activity levels on academic achievement in children. Medicine & Science in Sports Exercise, 38, 1515-1519. (2006) 21 July 2013 Haskell, W. L., Wolffe, J.B. memorial lecture. Health Consequences of Physical Activity: Understanding and Challenges Regarding Dose-Response. Medicine <& Science in Sports & Exercise, 26,649-660. (1994) 21 July 2013 "Healthy People 2010." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 08 Nov. 2011 21 July 2013. Hillman, C. H., Casteili, D. M., & Buck. S. M. Aerobic Fitness and Neurocognitive Function in Healthy Preadolescent Children. Medicine & Science in Sports& Exercise 2005 21 July 2013 Myers, L., Strikmiller, P. K., Webber, L. S., Berenson, G. S. Physical and Sedentary Activity in School Children Grades 5-8: The Bogaiusa heart study. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 28, 852-859, (1996) 21 July 2013 National Association for Sport and Physical Education. The Fitness Equation: Physical Activity + Balanced Diet = Fit Kids. Reston, VA: National Association for Sport and Physical Education, 1999. 21 July 2013

Stevens, Tara A., To Yen, Stevenson, Sarah J., Lochbaum, Marc J. "The Importance of Physical Activity and Physical Education in the Prediction of Academic Achievement." Texas Tech University, 2006. Web. 21 July 2013.