Roy Vincent L.

Baricawa NSTP-1
BS Psychology

Let’s Get Physical: Relevance of Recreational Activities and Physical Fitness to a

Healthy Lifestyle.

In understanding a healthy lifestyle, people used to neglect recreational activities

and physical fitness, but they are integral parts of a healthy lifestyle. The concept of a
healthy lifestyle hasn’t met harmony until the 1990s that introduces a scientific approach
in determining a healthy lifestyle, breaking the conventional idea of a healthy lifestyle
that health fads and traditional ideologies stimulated; slim bodies are the hallmark of a
healthy lifestyle before, that the use of dietary pills, low-fat foods, inflatable weight loss
jeans, or prayers (during the 1950s) — fads claimed to be effective. Currently, the idea
of a healthy lifestyle emerged from abstract ideas to scientific approaches, asserting
that healthy eating habits, recreational activities, and physical fitness are key factors for
this lifestyle. However, the progress of society does not eradicate the traditional ideas
and fads of a healthy lifestyle, mainly because of socio-political factors. Society plays a
major role in healthy lifestyles. Recreational activities are any activities on improving
one’s well-being that may be physiological or psychological. Physical fitness pertains to
the physiologic state of well-being of being capable of moving or working things
efficiently; these are the scientifically proven factors of having a healthy lifestyle. Ergo,
the prevalence of science has determined that a healthy lifestyle is a way of living on
the habitual enhancement of the health and the well-being of a person; it is holistic. It is
not central to the physique, but also the body systems. Guided by scientific studies, a
person’s recreational activities and physical fitness aside from eating habits determine a
healthy lifestyle: anything that refreshes and improves the body and mind so a person
can function efficiently.

Aside from unhealthy consumption habits, physical inactivity is a significant

contributor to most of the diseases that decrease the quality of life of a person. Heart
diseases are one of the leading causes of death in the Philippines in 2017, and heart
diseases are hypokinetic diseases or diseases because of lack of movement or
activities (Cardinal, 2016). Approximately most of the chronic diseases are due to
hypokinesis or physical inactivity, and an unhealthy lifestyle (Schuit, 2006; Dishman,
Washburn, and Heath, 2004), thus a clear concept of a healthy lifestyle emerged to
address these health issues that are increasing yearly, most significantly after the
advent of technology that has made life easier for us. Also, physical inactivity takes a
toll on a person’s ability in psychological aspects. Physiologically, physical inactivity
makes the body and its systems weaker, making their organs, muscles, or almost all of
the body systems slowly deteriorate, causing diseases and difficulties in functioning. On
the Psychological lens, physical inactivity makes neuroplasticity or the ability of the
brain to create new neural connections fail, and this is important for brain function.
Undoubtedly, physical inactivity is detrimental for a person’s life that if not addressed,
may lead to difficulties in life, or a worst-case scenario, demise.

Studies show that recreational activities and physical fitness are vital for body
systems to function properly, as one of the key factors in a healthy lifestyle. Physical
inactivity is a modifiable risk factor (Warburton, Nicol & Berdin, 2006), and the risk of
getting diseases or difficulties in functioning will rely on a person’s lifestyle and
conditions but, there is a lifestyle that may decrease or eradicates the risk: a healthy
lifestyle. Numerous studies have indicated that the main objectives of a healthy lifestyle:
to enhance lifelong health, to improve the quality of life, and decrease the chances of
morbidity and mortality (Eben, 2007) and in achieving this, healthy eating habits and
inhibiting unhealthy stuff to enter a person’s body system is not enough: the body must
be active. A healthy lifestyle does not only deal with the physique but with the whole
body: it is a lifestyle that is central to the holistic well-being of a person. Thus
consumption habits are not enough to determine a healthy lifestyle, and this is where
recreational activities and physical fitness becomes relevant to a healthy lifestyle.
Recreational activities and physical fitness are the main stimulators of a healthy lifestyle
as physical fitness determines a person’s recreational activities that a person is capable
of, and it is modifiable through habitual activeness. The fundamental idea of a healthy
lifestyle is an improved quality of life, and this can only be possible if the body systems
are functioning properly through physical activeness. For instance, an overweight
person with excessive fats may find it hard to move, impairing their ability to perform
their daily activities. To name a few, through recreational activities and physical fitness
that stimulates a person’s activeness, that person may expect to lose weight and
excessive fat as when a body is active, the body burns calories and with proper diet, it
creates a “calorie deficit,” or when the body lacks calories; calories are important to the
body so it will look for a source of calories — mainly fat (Porcari, n. d.), making the body
lose weight and fat (outside and inside). Also, the heart beats faster, pumping more
blood to the muscles, and a heart is also a muscle. Thus it becomes stronger and
bigger, and when the heart works faster, the oxygen demand will increase, making the
lungs to work harder as well to provide the blood the oxygen it needs that will travel
through the muscles that a person is using, which is why doing some physical activities
after a period of inactivity is exhausting; making it habitual makes it less exhausting
because of the capillaries that are growing in the muscles after a regular process of the
heart and the lungs hard work. A person may also enhance their mental ability as being
active enhances neuroplasticity that creates new neural connections in the brain,
improves brain function through oxygen, and also the enhancement of the hippocampus
that is mainly involved with memory and learning. Also, physical activeness stimulates
the body to secrete endorphins that relieve a person from stress and pain. These allow
a person to do their daily activities efficiently if done regularly, as there won’t be many
fats to make a body feel heavy, and the organs can function much better, providing
endurance and energy to keep the body moving. These are just a few of the
implications of recreational activities and physical fitness that makes the body function
properly by mitigating and eliminating the negative consequences of a sedentary life
and decreases the chances of morbidity and mortality as the main goals of a healthy
lifestyle as a study have asserted that the life expectancy of active people increases into
two years, while people with sedentary life has a twenty percent (20%) increase in early
death. (Haskell, 1995), proving the relevance of recreational activities and physical
fitness to a healthy lifestyle. Recreational activities and physical fitness play an essential
role in a healthy lifestyle that defies the traditional view of a healthy lifestyle glued to the
human physique. A healthy lifestyle is holistic: It involves every part of the body and life.

Recreational activities, physical fitness, and healthy eating habits, as the

hallmark of a healthy lifestyle, may be beneficial in a healthy lifestyle but, a person
should not focus solely on these areas, as the reach of well-being extends to the
external stimulus even though a lifestyle is mainly internal. The relationship between
recreational activities and physical fitness asserts that being healthy is an intricate and
life-long process. However, socio-political factors or the external stimulus must also be
considered as a healthy lifestyle, recreational activities, and physical fitness are tied
with society.

Resources:

British Heart Foundation. (2017). What Happens Inside Your Body When You Exercise?
YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWGulLAa0O0

Cardinal, B. J. (2016). Toward a Greater Understanding of the Syndemic Nature of

Hypokinetic Diseases. Journal of Exercise Science & Fitness, 14(2), 54–59.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesf.2016.07.001

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Benefits of Physical Activity.
https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/pa-health/index.htm.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Physical Activity for a Healthy
Weight. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/physical_activity/index.html.

Compare the Market. (2015). The evolution of a healthy lifestyle Comments.

https://www.comparethemarket.com.au/blog/health/the-evolution-of-a-healthy-lifestyle/.

Csatari, J. (2020). What Can Happen To Your Body If You Don't Exercise. Eat This Not
That. https://www.eatthis.com/side-effects-not-exercising/.

Department of Health. (n.d.) What are the leading causes of mortality in the Philippines?
https://www.doh.gov.ph/node/1058.

Detz, J. (2020). How Exercise Burns Fat. Weight Watchers.

https://www.weightwatchers.com/us/blog/fitness/how-exercise-burns-fat.

Dishman, R. K., Washburn, R. A., & Heat, G. (2003). Physical activity epidemiology.
Human Kinetics.
Ebem, Z.(2007). Health Promoting Behaviors and Exercise Stages of Change Levels of
Students at Transition to University. Middle East Technical University Social Sciences.
https://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12608828/index.pdf

Heart.org. (n.d.). Why is physical activity so important for health and wellbeing?
www.heart.org. https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/fitness/fitness-basics/why-is-
physical-activity-so-important-for-health-and-wellbeing.

Kotecki, J. E. (2014). Physical activity & health: an interactive approach. Jones &
Bartlett Learning.

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2019). 7 great reasons why
exercise matters. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-
depth/exercise/art-20048389.

Monique Tello, M. D. (2020, March 30). Healthy lifestyle: 5 keys to a longer life. Harvard
Health Blog. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/healthy-lifestyle-5-keys-to-a-longer-
life-2018070514186.

Reiner, M., Niermann, C., Jekauc, D., & Woll, A. (2013). Long-term health benefits of
physical activity – a systematic review of longitudinal studies. BMC Public Health, 13(1).
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-813

Schuit, A. J. (2006). Physical activity, body composition and healthy ageing. Science &
Sports, 21(4), 209-213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scispo.2006.06.004

Tech insider. (2017). What Happens To Your Body When You Stop Exercising | The
Human Body. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQz_V9Dr8IU

Paggi, M. E., Jopp, D., & Hertzog, C. (2016). The Importance of Leisure Activities in the
Relationship between Physical Health and Well-Being in a Life Span Sample.
Gerontology, 62(4), 450–458. https://doi.org/10.1159/000444415

Warburton, D. E., Nicol, C. W. & Berdin, S.S.D. (2006). Health benefits of physical
activity: the evidence. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 174(6), 801–809.
https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.051351
World Health Organization. (1999). Healthy Living.
http://www.kznhealth.gov.za/healthyliving.pdf