Exercising is a popular activity for people around the world, but many people exercise indoors when they should be going outdoors for added benefits. Exercising outdoors can make people more committed to a workout program than an indoor workout plan, and their motivation levels increase (Lacharite-Lemieux, Brunelle, & Dionne, 2015). Working out outdoors will improve a person’s overall psychological (mental) health, more so than normally exercising, which already has psychological and physiological benefits (Hug, Hartig, Hansmann, Seeland, & Hornung, 2009). Obesity rates in America are high and getting people to stick to an exercise program would help fight unhealthy obesity (Gladwell, Brown, Wood, Sandercock, & Barton, 2013). Finally, if a …show more content…
Obesity rates in North America are appallingly high; all states in the USA report over a fifth of the adult population being obese and over a third in some Southern states (Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama) (The State of Obesity, 2016). Eighty percent of adults from the USA do not meet the government’s minimum recommendations for physical activity. The government health guidelines state that adults should aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise weekly (health.gov, 2008). Obesity can lead to diabetes, cardiovascular problems, low self-esteem, and other health issues. Physical activity has physiological health benefits (muscle growth, cardiovascular health, and more), and psychological benefits (escalated energy, reduced stress, and higher self-confidence) (Association for Applied Sports Psychology, 2016). Unfortunately, over a quarter of American high school students are overweight or obese (The State of Obesity, 2016), and this will set a standard for them for the rest of their life. Campaigns promoting exercise and outdoor exercise should target youth and should put additional work into the Southern states, which are statistically the …show more content…
Exercising outdoors will increase one’s adherence to physical activity. People’s fascination and attention increases when outdoors, which will raise their motivation to exercise. Statistics prove that people today in North America are going outside and exercising less, so the extra motivation is needed. Promoting exercise is one of the best ways to combat obesity, and outdoor exercise should be a priority. One can also find mental health benefits from exercising outdoors; such as higher feelings of restorativeness, which reduces stress. If runners choose to run outdoors, they will have greater geographical awareness. Exercising outdoors has greater benefits than being trapped indoors to
Why Getting Outside is So Good for You. SparkPeople, Inc., 2014. Web. 9 May 2014. .
Exercise, food, technology, and money all play a role in causing childhood obesity. Lack of exercise among adolescents has been proven to be the leading cause of childhood obesity. According to a May 2012 Institute of Medicine report, only half of America’s children and one in four teens get enough activity to meet current guidelines (Doheny and Noonman 1). The recommendations call for children to participate in at least 60 minutes of vigorous to moderate physical activity every day (Hendrick 1). “Only four percent of elementary schools, eight percent of middle schools, and two percent of high schools provide daily physical ...
Obesity is a growing trend that is affecting individuals significantly in the U.S. and throughout the world. “As of 2013, Kentucky ranks 42 in the U.S. for obesity and over the past year the rate of obesity has risen from 30.4 percent to 31.3 percent among its population.”1 Many factors contribute to the rate of obesity in Kentucky, but, in my opinion, the most significant contributing factor to this trend is physical inactivity. I am a resident of a very rural and underdeveloped community in Eastern Kentucky, where a significant portion of the population lives with a triage of comorbidities (diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and hypertension). I feel that these disease states that plague individuals could be improved significantly with a life style intervention of increasing physical activity. Several barriers that decrease physical activity for our community must be overcome to improve the health of our community, among the most significant of these barriers includes the built environment due to lack of infrastructure, poverty from lack of jobs, and a negative cultural perception on exercise. I would like to lobby to school board members of Johnson Central High School to allow public access of local community members to use school facilities during non-school hours to increase physical activity to improve the health of its community.
other hand, obesity accounts for about 13 percent of children in the United States, which is why physical education programs should be one of the last things to go. They also help students release the stress they have built up through out the day and teach them the ...
As a little enlightenment on obesity, overweight and obesity result from an imbalance involving excessive calorie consumption and/or inadequate physical activity (Buchholz 5). The increases in overweight and obesity cut across all ages, racial and ethnic groups, and both genders. This increase stems from a variety of factors, primarily more consumption of calories and less vigorous activity. Obesity greatly increases the risk of developing many serious medical conditions, including type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis, hypertension, osteoarthritis, metabolic syndrome, sleep apnea, and certain forms of cancer (Davis 270). In 1999, 13% of children age 6 to 11 and 14% of adolescents age 12 to 19 were overweight. This prevalence has nearly...
Fewer and fewer children are playing outside regularly, choosing instead to be inside on the computer, in front of the television, and playing video games. Many children do not get enough physical activity in their daily routine. Many schools physical education programs cut back on the time actually spent doing vigorous activities. "One study showed that gym classes offered third-graders just twenty-five minutes of vigorous activity each week" ("Overweight and obesity,"2009). Guidelines show that children over two years old should at least get sixty minutes of vigorous activity a day ("Overweight and obesity,"2009). The average family is busier today than ever, which causes parents to rush meals and not take the time to plan nutritious hom...
Not only is walking a simple way to exercise, but it also has a lot of benefits, “The cardiovascular benefits of walking are biologically plausible; like other forms of regular moderate exercise, walking improves cardiac risk factors such as cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, vascular stiffness and inflammation, and mental stress” (Harvard Health.). Despite not breaking the biggest sweat during and after walking, given the benefits, it is obvious that walking is an effective way to exercise. Although walking is minimal and often overlooked as a way to exercise, it can decrease cardiac risk factors and improves mental health due to endorphins released while exercising. Walking is a way to increase heart rate and exercise the heart to make it pump blood more efficiently, which leads to a reduction in heart problems. By fighting obesity, walking also has the ability to create a higher quality of life, more body confidence, and decrease knee and heart problems for overweight people. Walking leisurely for even half an hour for 5 days a week, the recommended 150 minutes, can decrease common health issues and risk factors. Walking has the ability to modify a relatively out of shape person with various health issues into a thriving and well-energized person. Moreover, walking is a nonstrenuous way to exercise to create a healthier and happier
According to the American Journal of Public Health, obesity can be linked to nearly 1 in 5 deaths in the United States (Laidman). The saddest part about this statistic is that obesity is, in most cases, brought on by the individual. With fast food being a cheap and convenient way to feed the family, obesity has constantly been on the rise since the industry’s proliferation. Poor diet combined with lack of exercise has caused the emergence of routine doctor visits for avoidable conditions. Beginning with the youth, school programs that teach nutrition and fitness can help stop the growing numbers. Help and support from the government to lower the amount of advertisements to the public and reconstruction of communities that are more walker and biker friendly can greatly reduce the amount of obesity in the nation. Obesity is a serious problem in the United States that can be defeated through education and self-control.
Being physically fit inside and out is something that every person can control and achieve, but only through strong self-discipline. “The $52.9 billion fitness industry is constantly coming out with activities and products designed to get and keep us interested in working out” (Whigham-Desir 84). Two of these types of workouts, specifically Tae-Bo and Spinning, were created just for the purpose of keeping “us” interested in working out. Despite this revolution in the fitness industry, many false preconceived notions about losing weight persist and impede the movement. As the media bombard the American public with unrealistic images, a new obsession with fitness has hit the markets.
We want to solve the problem by helping kids and adults each healthier by making healthier lifestyle choices when it comes to eating. We also want to also increase physical activity of children and adolescents. I believe with the proper diet and exercise we can help decrease the obesity issue in this country that has grown so much in the past two decades. These steps are vital to helping prevent childhood obesity and even kids who currently suffer from childhood obesity. Since the 1970’s approximately 15 percent of children and adolescents are now overweight. "Prevent Childhood Obesity-Get Your Kids Moving!" Prevent Childhood Obesity-Get Your Kids Moving!
In our society today one of the most difficult problems we are facing is the large numbers of obesity in our children. One of the major factors in that is this; our children have become less physically active. At an early age children start watching TV, learn how to operate a computer, and play video games. Having technological skills is now a necessity in all of our lives because everything has turned “computerized,” but the fact is that our children are relying on these types of entertainment rather than getting up and physically exercising to entertain them selves. This directly affects the large number of obese children in our country today because of the lack of physical exercise. It is not that we want our kids to look a certain way or to be better at sports than everyone else, but it is that we want our kids to be physically fit and to develop a healthy lifestyle. Physical exercise is not only for adults, it is for children as well, so we must understand the importance of our children exercising and the benefits from it. By doing that it will make an impact on that child for the rest of his/her life.
There is no doubt that society needs to change from being unhealthy and overweight to being physically active and healthy, but many changes need to be done in society to do so, and making adjustments to physical education must be done. Physical education exists in schools to help students perform physical activity in schools and promote healthy lifestyles. It is extremely important that physical education teachers promote physical activity and healthy diets to young students because they are the ones who will be at risk of developing health issues such as obesity. Physical educators need to teach the younger generation the proper way to stay healthy so that they will continue to be physically active outside of physical education classes and so that they remain physically active throughout their lives.... ...
Spending time in the outdoors and getting in some healthy exercise tend to go hand in hand. From a gentle walk in the woods to canoeing in a lake to hitting the trails in our national or state parks, the great outdoors
Outdoor learning activities are beneficial for students’ health, including psychological, physiological. Outdoor learning activities offer students opportunities to move their
Aerobics is defined as a system of endurance exercises that promote cardiovascular fitness by producing and sustaining an elevated heart rate for a prolonged period of time, thereby pumping an increased amount of oxygen-rich blood to the muscles being used. In the world today a large number of U.S. citizens are over weight, you see them every where from school, to work, you see over weight people. In our fast pace world right now many people don’t have time to work out and if they do then they don’t fell like exercising. We have cities where governors dare the people to lose weight, and the most popular New Year’s resolution is to lose weight. . In this paper I will explain the benefits of aerobic exercise and why everyone should do some sort of exercising.