Impacts of Physical Exercise

Physical Exercise and Its Impact on Health

Physical exercise refers to a number of body tasks done with the intention of improving fitness. Physicians and other health providers have recommended exercise to their patients on many occasions, explaining that these exercises will help them with a variety of health problems (CDC). However, there has been a slew of controversies over the effects of these practices, with some arguing that physical activity can do more damage than good (McDermott). This paper looks at two papers that deal with physical activity in two dimensions. This discussion compares and contrasts these works of literature and investigates their veracity. There might be diversified views of the relevance of the physical activity to human health, but the facts remain that exercise has more health benefits than hazards.

Benefits of Physical Exercise: CDC Perspective

The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has been on the forefront in providing relevant data regarding the various means of controlling and preventing illnesses. This organization, in 2015, published an article that sort to explain the various benefits that physical exercise has on human health. As such, CDC highlighted eight key benefits and described the intensities of exercise that would guarantee physical and mental wellness. The first point discussed by CDC is the impact of physical activity on the control of body weight and recommended that “Work your way up to 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, or an equivalent mix of the two each week,” (CDC). The bottom line of this article is that physical exercise is the most efficient non-medicinal treatment to different health issues as it assists in reducing risks of cancers, type 2 diabetes, and some cardiovascular diseases while improving mood and mental health, ability to conduct daily activities, and strengthens bones (CDC). In a nutshell, this article suggests that exercise increases the chances of long life.

Negative Side Effects of Physical Activity: McDermott’s Perspective

Nicole McDermott in 2014 posted an article that sort to explain the unfortunate side effects of physical activity. This author gave up to 20 negative side effects of working out beginning with the concept of interrupted sleep. Most of the points put across by this author were external factors that may influence exercise with a little focus on health issues. The key ideas in the article were that working out causes economic drains due to the materialistic demands, interferes with social life, and causes uneven skin texture. Exercise also makes an individual’s hair to feel “like a matted, sweaty rat’s nest” and look “like straw and your skin feels like sandpaper from so much showering,” (McDermott). The bottom line of McDermott’s article is that there are both negative and positive impacts of physical activity. The adverse side effects mainly board on the social and economic life.

Comparing and Contrasting Perspectives

The main similarity between McDermott’s and CDC’s articles is that they both acknowledge that exercise has several eminent health benefits to an individual’s body. According to CDC, moderate intensity aerobic activities have proved to be safe for most persons. Daily physical activity boosts a person’s mood and the mental health. McDermott affirms this point by stating that exercise enhances brain power making individuals feel and look good. Moreover, working out may alleviate stress levels. McDermott’s thesis statement was that “exercise is good for you for about a million reasons,” (McDermott). Therefore, she asserted that there were several health benefits of these kinds of activities before presenting her views on the unfortunate side effects of exercise that are unavoidable. Also, the two authors agreed that the health benefits of physical activity outdo the disadvantages.

However, these two articles express sharp differences in the perspective of exercise and its influence on human life. The headings of the two pieces of literature are the first fundamental distinction as CDC’s article is entitled: “The Benefits of Physical Activity” while that of McDermott is “20 Unfortunate but Unavoidable Side Effects of Exercise.” At the first instance of viewing the article titles, the readers learn that the two contradict each other. Secondly, the perspectives used in handling physical exercise in these articles were also diverse. CDC’s article tackled the health side of the subject matter while McDermott mainly addresses the social and financial negativities of working out. CDC shared no insights on the possible economic issues associated with exercise and the impact of exercise on interaction and the interruption of sleep patterns. Also, McDermott never dwelled on the negative health concerns associated with practice. Lastly, one article provided a remedy to the issues related to physical activity while the other did not. CDC explained that moderate-intensity exercise could assist in reducing the risks of getting injured during a training or exercise session. This was a remedy to the main issue that was the injury during exercise. McDermott, on the contrary, explored the issues associated with exercise and did not give any solutions.

In Conclusion

In summary, there might be diversified views of the relevance of physical activity to human health, but the facts remain that exercise has more health benefits than hazards. This paper successfully explores two articles with differentiated opinions on the role of physical activity in human lives and provides the ideological similarities and contrasts. The key resemblance in the articles is that training has a myriad of health benefits. However, the fundamental contrast between the two articles was the perspectives used. One article presented the negative aspects of physical activity while the other presented the positive dimensions. In a nutshell, exercise has sundry health benefits and a few financial and social drawbacks.

Works Cited

McDermott, Nicole. “20 Unfortunate Side Effects of Working Out”. Shape Magazine, 2014, http://www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/10-unfortunate-unavoidable-side-effects-exercise.

“Physical Activity and Health”. Cdc.Gov, 2015, https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/pa-health/.