Introduction
The saying ‘sport and exercise are good for your health’ appears at first to be an irrefutable fact. However in this assignment I am going to look the information and facts that agree with this statement, and then compare and contrast with the information that disagrees.
To begin it would seem logical to define the words in the statement to gain better understanding of their meaning. Sport has several meanings, such as ‘one being a good sport’ by showing honesty and respect even when defeated but for the purposes of this essay sport will be defined as “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2008). Exercise is defined as “activity requiring physical effort carried out for the sake of health and fitness” yet interestingly has a second meaning that could be very relevant to the above statement; “an activity carried out for a specific purpose” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2008). Good is defined as “to be desired or approved of, and health “the state of being free from illness or injury” or a person’s mental or physical condition” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2008).
The definitions of each of these words show sport would involve exercise; or rather sport is applied exercise in pursuit of a goal or result. So for the purposes of this assignment I will compare and contrast them concurrently.
Sport & Exercise are good for your health?
Good health it would be fair to say is a desirable commodity or feature of a person. The link between physical activity and wellbeing is not a new idea or argument to promote exercise. Since the beginning of historical records the Chinese have practiced Tai Chi and other forms of physical activity to prevent diseases. Up to 1500 years ago the Roman physician, Galen was prescribing exercise to maintain good health (Brian J. Sharkey, 2006, p.14).
This topic was raised by Dr Steven Blair and Harold