Louise Keeley

                                                      Is exercise bad for you?

This piece of coursework is to discuss the possible bad effects of exercise besides the well advertised positive effects.  I found that it was extremely difficult to find adverse effects of exercises to be widely published.  It is always stated that exercise is a necessity for a healthy and long life in one form or another due to its unlimited benefits.  ‘(1) keeping active helps maintain the capacity to perform activities of daily living and has effects throughout the body. Within the skeleto-muscular system, exercise preserves (and can improve) muscle and bone strength and helps maintain joint flexibility. The increase in venous return to the heart induced by activity stretches the myocardium and causes the heart to contract more forcefully. With regular exercise the heart adapts by strengthening the myocardium; this means that the heart performs less work for any given activity.  The increased requirement for oxygen by active muscle cells results in faster and deeper breathing thereby strengthening the respiratory muscles. Activity also promotes peristaltic movements in the digestive tract thereby preventing constipation.  In order to gain health benefits, 20-30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per day (i.e. sufficient to moderately stimulate aerobic respiration) is recommended. The type and level of exercise recommended will vary between individuals and across age groups.’

It has immense results on the cardiovascular system. It reduces the amount of fat in the body including LDL cholesterol (harmful type) and triglycerides that is the free fatty acid in the blood, improves the bodies ability to uptake and deliver oxygen and this is regarded as the best measure of health, allows the heart to pump more blood with less effort helping to control systolic and diastolic blood pressure. It is also believed to improve the functioning of the immune system, increases insulin sensitivity to prevent against type II diabetes and reduce chances of having a stroke.  For such effect, vigorous and demanding exercises are required such as jogging a lot.  These exercises can easily be the cause of some serious, painful and maybe even permanent injuries.  A minor injury is something like a blister, preventable with petroleum jelly.  Other injuries include shin splints, a painful injury of the shin caused by running on hard surfaces without proper footwear, sprains (stretching/tearing of the ligaments) and strains (stretching/tearing of the muscles) are common in exercise, Bursitis is an inflammation of the bursa and occurs at a joint, and Tendonitis is an inflammation of a tendon that produces pain when the attached muscle contracts.  The possibly most likely to cause a persistent /permanent problem are knee injuries caused by running on uneven surfaces, overuse and improper body alignment or lower back problems can occur due to poor running, sitting and lifting positions.  These can affect people who don’t exercise, making those who do more vulnerable, and are related to problems with arthritis which is a painful and incurable disease.  ‘(3) Osteoarthritis is the most common which is the breakdown of the cartilage at a joint due to wear and tear.  It mainly affects weight bearing joints such as knees, hips and lower back; at its most severe it can cause immobility.  All the risks mentioned are present for each and every exercise for all purposes to some extent, but a more likely in some cases depending on the type of exercise.’

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Exercise is also known for its vast results with benefiting the aging process and functional capacity.  It can increase muscular strength and stamina, increases/maintains bone mineral density preventing osteoporosis, maintains metabolic resting rate to prevent weight gain, improves joint integrity improves balance ad coordination and is even know to reduce the risk of developing colon or breast cancer.  For such effects more lifting and movement orientated exercises are needed such as dancing, body building, swimming, etc.  Again there are the risks to go with the ...

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