Importance of physical education and good health

Physical activity and health are played a pertinent role. It helps mainly in the prevention of disease.  One should know that health benefits are proportional to the amount of physical activity. 

Study reveals that more than 60 per cent adults are not regularly physically active and significant health benefits can be obtained by including a moderate amount of physical activity, such as 30 to 40 minutes, on most, if not all, days of the week and that through this modest increase in daily activity, most people can improve their health and quality of life.

It has been seen among youth that they are not vigorously active on a regular basis.  During adolescence, physical activity declines dramatically.  Doctors are saying childhood obesity is real, as children ages 6–19 are considered overweight.

The message is quite clear the majority of them are physically inactive and as a result is at a greater risk of developing a disease.  Overweight and obesity are prone to disease and thus action needs to be taken in an attempt to decrease the amount of physically inactive people. Requirements of physical education at the elementary and secondary levels are certainly falling behind.

Mandatory physical education programs are often an afterthought. The need of the hour is to improve quality of life.  It is time the ownership needs to be taken by institutions of higher learning by implementing is as follows:

• In the general education curriculum, physical education courses should be included among all first-year college students since youths are the architects of the country.  As follows:
• Physical education programs should be in higher education
• Specific references to maintaining personal health and wellness
• The legal implications for mandatory physical education at private institutions of higher learning will also be outlined

                          

It is rightly said that the benefits of physical activity are clearly established.  Regular physical activity reduces the risk of:

• Premature mortality
• Coronary heart disease
• Hypertension
• Colon cancer and
• Diabetes mellitus

Moreover, physical activity also improves mental health.  There must be a rising trend to move towards a holistic approach towards health and physical activity with the concept of wellness.

Health is  wealth and stimulates an individual makes possible the highest enjoyment of life, the greatest constructive work, and that shows itself in the best service to the world.  A healthy lifestyle is not solely limited to physical activity.  It encompasses health as freedom from disease is a standard of mediocrity, health as a quality of life is a standard of inspiration and increasing achievement.

In general, there are six dimensions of wellness

• Emotional development
• Intellectual development
• Physical development
• Social development
• Occupational development and
• Spiritual development

If a person follows wellness in any one of these dimensions experiences an extension of that well-being to other dimensions but a lack of wellness in any one of these dimensions will also affect other dimensions, diminishing the person’s well-being in those areas.

No doubt, the university curriculum provides an excellent opportunity to incorporate and raise the level of awareness of health and wellness behaviours.  

The awareness of health-related fitness knowledge may counter negative lifestyle behaviours which include limited physical activity, high levels of academic stress, poor diet, and increased alcohol use. 

It is to be kept in mind, the education should base on the philosophy which seeks to develop the whole person with equal emphasis on mind, spirit, and body.  The goal of the required physical education is to give students a basic knowledge of exercise physiology and exercise prescription that will help them develop and maintain a lifelong personal fitness program. 

During physical education, a student should be able to identify:

• The relationship between lifestyle and selected health problems
• Evaluate their current lifestyle in relationship to future health problems
• Concepts and components of health-related fitness
• Evaluate their personal health-fitness
• Develop knowledge and skill   

                                    

The ongoing physical education offers an excellent chance at making significant changes in the living patterns of a larger population in future years.  The main thrust is living at their optimum levels—physically, intellectually, emotionally, socially, and spiritually—can enhance their chances for success.

The message is clear that for a nation prosper everyone should be physically active.  It should be borne in mind that we cannot separate the health and physical education course. The direction should be a proper combination of the health course with the physical education course to get the immense benefit. 

The ultimate goal of general education is to incorporate courses that will be meaningful and will have an impact on the lives of students.  The importance of health and wellness are primarily dependent on encouraging students to think of maintaining health and wellness as an active rather than reactive process.           

Educating the students of the value of regular physical activity and wellness is essential and thus how we can get rid of negative lifestyle behaviours like high levels of academic stress, poor diet, and increased alcohol use which not only affecting as an individual but the community as a whole.