Physical Activity from the Lazy Side

With today’s advance technologies, we can see the world without stepping out of our room. Looking at those television shows such as national geographic, we can excel our knowledge. Surfing on the internet, we can know what is happening around world. It is nice that we can achieve all that with technologies, but it would be more exciting when we can experience the world for ourselves. Besides, just sitting around in the room observing the world will have a huge negative impact on our physical health in general. As I mentioned in my past blogs, that doing physical activities is a must to a healthy life. To support that, I have found a medical research to share. In fact, exercising in the nature is the best way to enjoy life and experience the world.

This medical research that I found was done by the research group, Lifestyle and Health at theUniversity of Pernambuco. The research is to find out the common factors associated with physical activity and sedentary behaviour in teenagers. This is a cross-sectional-study and using Chi-square method (the calculation using probability and elimination) which conduct three groups of students in high school. In 4217 students who participated, most revealed that they are exposed to sedentary behaviour and these are the dependent variables of the research. Other factors were also taken in concern include but are not limited to gender, age and race acting as independent variable. Large sample group was selected through Epi-info software for randomization because the research’s objective was to pin point the ten health-related behaviour factors from physical activity and sedentary behaviour. As reported by Health Enhancing Physical Activity for young people, youth who does 60 minutes of exercise on at least five days a week are considered physically active and individual who spend three or more hours doing sedentary activity such as watching tv are considered exposed to sedentary activities.

The processes of the experiment includes three stages: first, draw the density of schools in each micro state, then draw the density of student from each selected school, and lastly, conduct the questions by six master's program graduate Hebiatrai University of Pemambuco. The result of this study shows there are 65.1% of students are physically inactive and amongst the 65.1%, 70% are girls and 30% are boys. The researches also found that 40.9% of sedentary behaviour is on weekdays and 49.9% on the weekends through a research hierarchical approach. Students who are exposed to sedentary behaviour are found significantly associated with the difference in their gender, place of residence, part of the class, grade, occupational status and participation in physical education classes. One of the interesting facts that we can find from this study is that race, living with parents, and maternal education seems not to be correlated with physical activity level. However, age is an important factor of sedentary behaviour on both weekends and weekdays.

According to this Journal of Epidemiology, we can conclude that sedentary behaviour will cause insufficient level of physical activities in teens. In addition, we can tell that over half of the teens have the trend of not being physical active. I have talked about the consequences of being physically inactive in many of my blogs. Not only it can easily cause chronic diseases and obesity, it will affect the growth of the teenagers as Health and Human Services has said. More importantly, teenagers will not know how to appreciate the nature and the world with that sedentary behaviour.

THIS IS WHAT YOU CALL... FAT TV!!!!!

- THE CHOICE IS YOURS!****

Bibliograhy

Pernambuco, U. o. (2010, 3). Physical activity and sedentary behavior among adolscent high school students. Retrieved 7 24, 2011, from Scielo.br: http://www.scielo.br/scieloOrg/php/reflinks/php?refpaid=S1415-790X201000010001000002&paid=S1415-790X2010000100010&Ing=en

Services, U. D. (1996). A Report of the Surgeon General. Retrived 7 24, 2011, from Physical Activity and Health: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?scritp=sci_arttext&paid=S1415-790X2010000100010&Ing=en&nrm=iso&tirg=en

Physical Activity fights Stress

As I have mentioned in my past blogs, physical inactivity awareness has become a world-stage concern. There are many ways to improve one’s physical ability and exercising habits but the easiest way would be start exercising. Being physical active does not only benefits our body such as building muscle, burning fat, or keeping fit, but in fact, it affects our mental health. A lot of people may not believe that these two factors are correlated since they do not see any relationship in between exercising and mental health, but when a person is being physical active, his/her mental state will be more positive.

This can be easily proven by those adults who are having the habit of exercising. They tend to be happier, and more successful in life. That is because exercising can reduce people’s stresses which directly affect their performance in work or other activities. Many studies have conducted to support the saying of the human body releases hormones such as endorphins (happy hormone) in our blood stream to promote wellbeing when exercising. On the other hand, teens today are not doing as well as the adults. A lot of teenagers are facing a huge stress from their studies but since they are not being physically active, they could not reduce their stresses in proper ways. This has led to many problems in deed. One of the biggest factors would be teens’ behaviors is becoming fatigue. The University Health Center suggests that students who exercise have increased ability to concentrate and are more energized. Furthermore, those who are physically inactive stand a higher chance to be in bad mood or even in depression which will again directly affect their academic performances. Recently, a cross sectional study was conducted by the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London that resulted in 32% of the sample group are only doing one or none of the sessions required to stay physically active. Even if the study shows that health “benefits were observed at“minimal level of at least 20 minutes a week of any physical activity”” Canadian teenagers should be required to do at least 60 minutes of exercise per week. Therefore, stress is one thing that we have to deal with in our lives, reducing it with exercising would be one of the best way to handle it.

Exercising comes with many benefits. Especially for teens today, they need to become more physically active. Exercise will improve their performances in school since their stresses from studies would be reduced. Also, by participating in physical activities with friends or family can generate social bonding, so teens are not likely to suicide or have chronic mental illnesses. According to Health Canada, frequent exercise behavior is important when it comes to healthy growth and development. Teenagers should be aware of active living lifestyle by incorporating exercise in their everyday life.

References:

Elizabeth Scott, M. (2011, April 25). What Types of Stress Reduction Exercise Are Most Effective? Retrieved July 11, 2011, from About.com:http://stress.about.com/od/programsandpractices/f/exercise.htm

Georgia, U. o. (n.d.). Managing Stress: A Guide for College Students. Retrieved July 11, 2011 , from The Universty Health Center:http://www.uhs.uga.edu/stress/exercise.html

Physical activity reduces stress . (2008, April 10). Retrieved July 11, 2011, from NHS health news:http://www.nhs.uk/news/2008/04April/Pages/Physicalactivityreducesstress.aspx

Why Is Physical Activity Good For Stress Anxiety Management? (n.d.). Retrieved July 11, 2011, from Learn and Treat Anxiety: http://learnandtreatanxiety.com/stress-anxiety-management/

Say Yes to PE in Your School

With today's society, teenagers are becoming less and less active in participating physical exercise. This phenomenon of teen's inactivity is now leading to a major worldwide health issue. The numbers of overweight and obesity students are constantly increasing not just in North America, but all developed countries. One of the main reasons that turn teens lazier than ever before is because of the new technology such as video and computer games. Other than the technology factor, the trend of the school life today is mainly angled towards the academic side. In British Columbia, students are forced to take physical education programs from grade one until grade ten. After grade ten, physical education courses become optional, and not that many students will continue on because it does not require for post-secondary entry (2005 Survey of Canadian Schools). Some people believe that school life should be limited to academic standings and students can exercise on their free time. However, in reality, students are very busy with their study schedule to keep up the good grades; so even when students have leisure time, most of them will usually play video games and watch television instead. Therefore, should physical education be mandatory all through elementary school to high school is still an unsolved argument.

This argument remain to have unsolved is due to various factors. For example one of the main concerns is that those who said no PE classes argue school should be focusing on the academic side; physical education will only be wasting time and money; especially when physical education is useless in going into post-secondary. In addition, when students participate in those courses they will not as likely to stay focus on their studies. On the other hand, the affirmative side states that physical exercise does only solve the obesity problem but it also helps students academically have been proven by the studies from Ontario Health and Physical Education curriculum. Exercise can eliminate distress and helps students to concentrate more on their studies. Active Healthy Kids Corporation states that there are many corporations that are willing to pay funding for those physical programs such as McDonald, so money is not a problem. Furthermore, the affirmative side states that the best way to teach students about healthy life style and health knowledge is to attend physical education classes. Students can also learn how to be a team player through sports which can contribute to future networking. Nevertheless, the negative argues that student can substitute physical knowledge through book and nutrition courses. As a result, both side have mentioned some important issues but money and supportive environment play crucial roles in teens’ positive physical status.

Personally I believe that physical education is as important as the academic educations. It is because without a healthy life, one will be unhappy no matter how knowledgeable one is. I think that making physically education as a mandatory part of students' school life would be supported because it helps to lower obesity rates, improve habit of healthy lifestyle outside of school and analyzing the factors that affect health. Even though, it may not help in a lot in one's academic side such as going into secondary school, it certainly provides fun and joy in student's school life.

References:

Association, A. H. (n.d.). Physical Education in Schools. Retrieved June 27, 2011, from American Heart Association Learn and Live:

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3010854

Canada, A. H. (n.d.). Mandate . Retrieved June 27, 2011, from Active Healthy Kids Canada: http://www.activehealthykids.ca/AboutUs.aspx

Goverment Education. (2011). Retrieved June 27, 2011, from Health and Physical Education - Interim Edition - 2010 :http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/healthcurr18.txt

Kemper, V. (2003, September 30). Boston.com News. Retrieved June 27, 2011, from Schools are skipping P.E.:http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2003/09/30/schools_are_skipping_pe/

video provided by Youtube:

Demand a Quality Physical Education Program In Your School Video by rosaryfilms

No Pain, No Gain?

Article 1: No Pain, No Gain Philosphy

Living in modern society, exercise is an essential element to healthy lifestyle as people are now more concern about getting fit. However, each individual has his/her own way to exercise. Especially for teenagers, they are very easily influenced by the information that they perceive every day. There are mass of varieties of inaccurate information on internet which may mislead the teens to exercise in ways that are unsuitable for them.

I believe most people have heard of the “No pain, no gain” philosophy. I think this philosophy is not plausible. Looking at the website provided below, let’s point out how teenagers can easily believe in these ridiculously doubtful information. Firstly, the website writes in strong bias and persuasion. In the first few paragraphs, it attacks the reader’s self-esteem and criticizes that people are weak and they are not doing the exercises “right”. Secondly, it manipulates pictures of muscular models as a support of what they are trying to point out. There is absolutely no evidence of how these people get so bulky. Thirdly, throughout the website, it has not mention a word about the risk factors of overworking yourself. The website even brings out a message saying that if we do not push our bodies to the limits then we will not build any muscle. This could cause teenagers to injure themselves by exhausting their bodies. Furthermore, the website talks a little about diet, “But all this is no good without a well-balanced diet… you got to eat like the big guys;” it doesn’t provide any guidelines saying that big guys are healthy eaters. Lastly, the website encourages people to blindly follow the “no pain, no gain” philosophy without taking into account people’s initial exercise status. Teenagers may feel pressured and stressed out if they think they are useless because they cannot get the perfect body sizes they want.

Many teenagers who follow the “no pain, no pain” motto injure themselves easily because they think if they don’t experience pain, they are not doing enough exercise. One of the facts for muscle building reported by Harley Pasternak, a celebrity trainer on NBC TV, is that as long as there are some discomforts occur in one’s muscle, it is a sign of muscle building, many of which don’t require pain. In addition, he also mentions about time and intensity of exercising should be adjusted accordingly. Also, an article written by Marlene Habib, a fitness instructor and writer at CBCNews, talks about how easy exercising can be. One of her successful examples is when she sets some simple exercises for an old man to keep fit. Those exercises are just walking 15 minutes two or three times a week, stretching, and easy weight lifting. Therefore, the most important thing in exercising would be “knowing your limits and playing within it”. There are also health classes and physical education classes in school that provide teenagers with more accurate and detail information.

Websites that are credible:

Exercise newbies: Have no fear

Video: No Pain, No Gain and other workout myths

INTRODUCTION to My Blog

Welcome to my blog, I am Tiffany. This health blog will be about exercising. I will try to make it interesting and engaging for the readers by sharing my previous exercising experiences and including graphics in my blog. One fact about me is that I am definitely not a physically active person. However, as I grow older I realize the importance of physical activities and how it may affects our lives. Therefore, I would like to share this blog with teenagers like me who do not like to exercise, and motivates them to start moving.

Being in a state of physically inactive could lead to many health issues. Living in a technology-relying society, teenagers are becoming less and less physically active. According to TIME Magazine Many high school students are too busy concentrating on playing on the computer or studying; most of them say that they don't have time to exercise. This leads to the increasing rate of health issues such as obesity among the younger age. I believe that young adults play an important role in society, so it is important to bring out the message to teenagers about healthy exercising so they could develop healthy habits throughout their life. As a result, later in this blog, I will touch on some of the diseases that may have huge impact on young adults, suggest fun ways to exercise and identify some of the false information about exercising.

This blog will not only benefit my readers, but me as well. I will do many researches before I write my blogs to assure the accuracy. Through this process I hope to learn more about health problems that I am curious about. More importantly, the main reason of this blog is to motivate teens to start exercising and keep a healthy life with me. Lastly, I hope all of you will look forward to my next blog and have fun reading it.