Introducing Health, Fitness and Wellbeing

Exercise and Wellbeing

In this course, Dr Jeffrey Lambert (University of Bath) explores exercise and wellbeing. In the first lecture, we think about health, fitness and wellbeing. In the second lecture, we think about the physical benefits of physical activity. In the third lecture, we think about the mental benefits, emotional and psychological, of physical activity. Next, we think about the social benefits of physical activity like exercise and sport. In the fifth lecture, we think about the impacts of life choices in the context of sport and exercise. In the sixth and final lecture, we think about the design of personal exercise programmes. Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash.

Introducing Health, Fitness and Wellbeing

In this lecture, we think about health, fitness and wellbeing, focusing in particular on: (i) recognising the World Health Organisation (WHO) definition of health to be a state of physical, mental and social wellbeing; (ii) differentiating between physical, mental and social wellbeing; (iii) understanding fitness to be the ability to perform daily tasks with ease and without undue fatigue; (iv) understanding wellbeing to be a positive state experienced by individuals and societies; (v) understanding physical activity to be energy expenditure through the movement of skeletal muscles; (vi) understanding exercise to be a subcategory of physical activity that is planned, structured, repetitive and intentional; (vii) some physical benefits of physical activity, including improving heart function and reducing disease risk; (viii) some key mental benefits of physical activity; (ix) some social benefits of physical activity, including serving as an opportunity for social interaction to feel part of a group.