Health, Exercise & Fitness

Health is defined as :

“a state of complete mental, physical and social well being not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”

Physical health

Taking part in more physical activity and developing your components of fitness will improve your physical health.

Emotional health

Participation in physical activity and sport helps develop and maintain emotional health, because:

• exercising releases hormones called endorphins, which make you feel happier and more relaxed, and less stressed and anxious
• you will have more energy if you exercise, making you feel better able to cope with the physical demands of a busy life
• feeling physically healthier boosts your self-esteem and makes you a more confident person
• as you get older, exercising also stimulates the growth of new brain cells, reducing the risk of age-related diseases such as dementia.

Social health

Taking part in physical activity and sport can improve your social health. You will meet new people, often from different social backgrounds, and make new friends. Being part of a team or a club can give you a sense of belonging, as you all work together to achieve a common goal, and you will develop your teamwork skills.

Fitness is defined as :

“the ability to meet the demands of the environment and everyday life”

The environment in which we associate fitness is sport. As each sport, and even the positions and roles within the same sport, can diff er so greatly then your environment becomes very specific. For a marathon runner your environment is usually an undulating 42,000 metre race (just over 26 miles!). Being fit for this sport would mean that you could race the distance and not simply survive it. The environment of a boxer requires the ability to sustain relatively high intensity activity for 3 minutes with a regular 1 minute interval. You may possess all of the boxing skills imaginable, such as quick reflexes, power and so on, yet if after the fourth of twelve rounds you are so fatigued that you are unable to utilise your skills then you were not fit for your environment.

Exercise is defined as :

"a form of physical activity to maintain or improve health and/or fitness"

Exercise can also be defined as ‘a physical activity that produces a positive physiological adaptation.’ As such, it is assumed that the ‘exercise’ is performed repeatedly and with sufficient intensity to stimulate the necessary responses and eventual adaptations.