Physical Psychology: The Subdiscipline Of Physical Health

As an intended Kinesiology major, I have learned through various courses that physical health is never investigated and fully understood through one perspective. Five primary subdisciplines of kinesiology that can further explain physical health are Biomechanics, Exercise Physiology, Motor Learning, Psychology, and Sociology. A substantial part of physical health is to remain physically active. Therefore, the purpose of Biomechanics is to always improve aspects of physical activity by modifying certain exercises, equipment, or techniques to make them efficient, effective, and safe. An example of a piece of equipment that’s constantly improving is active footwear. Researchers and scientists believe that different styles of shoes can benefit

The purpose of Motor Learning is to establish the fundamentals of movement so motor skill and motor control can be sufficiently achieved. This subdiscipline also looks at individual differences of behavior to investigate how it affects motor skill and motor control. Relating to individual differences, Sociology examines age, race, ethnicity, gender, among others to see if these factors have any influence on physical activity. Ultimately, the subdiscipline of Psychology explores emotions, behaviors, and cognitions that individuals experience during physical activity. The purpose of Psychology is to determine how emotions can impact performance of physical activity. With an overview of each subdiscipline given, the specific subdiscipline I will be analyzing throughout this essay is Exercise Physiology. I chose this subdiscipline to explain my current topic because I want to know if following a vegetarian diet enhances physical performance. To research this idea, I need to know what physiological responses are occurring in the human body while exercising on a vegetarian diet, if following this lifestyle will prevent cancers and diseases, and if it will improve health and

A study performed by Wirnitzer et al. (2016) lists the health-related benefits of a vegetarian diet. These benefits include, lower mortality from all-causes to lower body weight, body mass index, blood pressure, risk of obesity, risk of type 2 diabetes, as well as an enhanced antioxidant status capable of reducing exercise-induced oxidative stress (Wirnitzer et al. 2016). These findings of the vegetarian diet not only improve physical health, but also physical performance. A big contributor to enhancing physical performance is the capabilities of antioxidants to reduce exercise-induced oxidative stress. These antioxidants correct the imbalance of oxygen in the body, which means an imbalance of oxygen could potentially cause harm to the body. Also, high intensity physical activity can be straining on the body and can even negatively impact the body. Harm to the body can be avoided by adopting a vegetarian-based diet, because the foods consumed aren’t as taxing on the physiological processes within the body. This means that by eating a vegetarian-based diet, the body can withstand a higher intensity of physical activity than when eating an omnivorous diet. To summarize the research done by Wirnitzer et al (2016), the Nutrition and Running High Mileage (NURMI) study was designed to detect potential differences in running performance comparing vegetarians,