1

Infotech Development Systems Colleges, Inc.

Natera Corner P. Timog Street, Dunao Ligao City 4504
Telephone No. (052) 202-1949 || 091788126
E-mail address: [email protected] || [email protected]

Course Title : HEALTH AND FITNESS

COURSE CODE :
COURSE CREDIT : 2 UNITS
PROGRAM : BSHM,BSTM,BSED,BEED
Year Level/Sem : 1ST

TOPIC : INTRODUCTION TO HEALTH AND FITNESS

I. Introduction

Health and fitness is the key to a long, active and enjoyable life. It is correctly stated
that Health is the actual Wealth that a person can retain. Being healthy and fit in simple terms
means taking good care of the body. We should remember that a healthy mind resides only in
a healthy body. Good health of both mind and body helps one maintain the required energy
level to achieve success in life. All of us must strive to achieve wholesome health. Protecting
your body from the intake of harmful substances, doing regular exercises, having proper food
and sleep are some of the important instances that define a healthy lifestyle. Being fit allows us
to perform our activities without being lethargic, restless or tired. A healthy and fit person is
capable of living the life to the fullest, without any major medical or physical issues.

II. Objectives

At the end of the topic, you should be able to:

1. Understand the importance of Health and Fitness

2. Identify the components that affects one’s health
3. Give importance to one’s health

III. Content

Being healthy is not only related to the physical well-being of a person, it also involves
the mental stability or the internal peace of a person. Generally, a healthy diet consists of
taking a proper and healthy food which includes eating green and fresh vegetables, fruits,
having milk, eggs, minerals, proteins and vitamins essential for a human’s lifestyle. Practicing
Yoga including regular exercises in your daily routine also help you maintain your desired

HEALTH AND FITNESS/ JSSELETARIA

 2
fitness, blood sugar and immunity level. Healthy habits improve your physical appearance,
mental stability, ability to perform activities in a better way, which help you lead a stress-free
lifestyle, maintaining happy moods, high energy levels, etc.

Each individual should take of one’s health on a priority; no single day should be
skipped for making efforts on maintaining physical and mental fitness. Being happy is directly
related to boosting your mental strength and health, so happiness can be considered as the
result as well as the part of a healthy and fit lifestyle. Health can, generally, be measured on
major three parameters: Physical, Psychological and Nutritional. Physical health means the
physical appearance of a person; Nutritional health means the presence of essential nutrients
in the body to fight diseases with immunity. Psychological health means the ability in a
Dr.Mohd Akhter Ali, M.Kamraju, M.Vani person to maintain patience, calm and composure in
all circumstances of life. Health professionals consider cancer, diabetes and several other
mental and physical health issues such as depression, lethargic attitude, etc to deficiencies in
fitness and well-being of a person.

Unhealthy and unfit lifestyle of a person also results in premature death. Obesity and
lack of physical fitness in young generation sets the stage for diabetes, heart disease, and
other serious health problems. Walking, running, cycling, playing, swimming, gardening,
skipping, weightlifting and Yoga are some of the important activities which help us maintain
fit and healthy lifestyle. A person who is fit both physically and mentally is strong enough to
face the ups and downs of life, and is not affected by drastic changes in the circumstances.
One should also spend time outdoors in the sun, inhaling fresh air and taking part in healthy
activities. Staying active makes you stay energetic.

Out of the several components that affect one’s health, following are the seven key
physical components to ensure the overall good health, fitness and mental wellbeing:

1. Cardiovascular/Aerobic Conditioning

2. Strength Training and Muscular Development

3. Stretching – Muscles, Ligaments and Tendons

HEALTH AND FITNESS/ JSSELETARIA

 3
4. Core Stability – Both physical and mental

5. Nutrition and Supplementation – Balanced Diet

6. Mental Rest and Relaxation – Balanced lifestyle

7. Sleep – Regular sleep

Eating healthy and nutrients rich food, exercising, taking sufficient sleep, avoiding
intake of harmful substances are just few simple ways to stay healthy and fit. These are
directly related to our mental, physical and emotional health. Fitness and mental well-being
are essential parts of a healthy life. The benefits of an active and healthy lifestyle are
undeniable by all means. Whether you decide to increase your activity levels slightly or
develop and participate in a thorough fitness plan, it will pay you off in the long run. Exercise
is good for your health of various organs of your body and makes you feel stronger. Nutrition
and fitness are essential for a healthy living. Not only we look and feel good, but by eating the
right nutritional food and doing the right amount of exercise, we could also lower the chances
of getting some pretty serious life-threatening diseases.

Things to be done for maintaining balanced healthy and fit lifestyle:

● Keeping body hydrated – Drink ample water

● Washing hands before and after meals – Maintain sanitation

● Regular exercise

● Intake of nutrients

● Regular, sound sleep

Good health helps a person to live one’s life to its fullest potential without being
physically or mentally unfit. Unhealthy lifestyle results in deterioration of one’s well being.
Staying healthy and fit is very important for each generation. Exercising and eating healthy
are the best ways to retain your health both physically and mentally. People, who take their
health seriously and are serious about maintaining their fitness, do exercises on a daily basis,

HEALTH AND FITNESS/ JSSELETARIA

 4
eat a healthy diet, and sleep well on time for adequate duration. Being healthy and fit allows
you to stay active and further increases your confidence and concentration power. By staying
healthy and fit, one can set an example for others and slowly help others increase their
health, nutrition, knowledge, and consumption of sustainably produced foods.

Major reasons that lead to the deterioration of health are as follows:

● Daily stress – Students often feel stressed about school work, and exams.
Professionals are also prone to stress with regard to their life and work. Such conditions lead
to imbalanced mental health.

● Depression – Prolonged stress about something leads to depression and becomes a

health issue.

● Intake of harmful substances like alcohol, preserved foods, etc, adversely affect the
physical and mental health and fitness.

● Lack of sleep – People tends to work late at night, constantly use their phones, etc
and forego their destined sleep cycle. As suggested by medical experts, a defined time of
sleep is mandatory for each individual. Lack of sleep results in an unfit lifestyle.

● Junk foods – Intake of junk foods has replaced the proper nutritional diet that one
should consume. Unhealthy food habits directly create unhealthy wellbeing. Natural
phenomena such as pollution, etc also make us unhealthy and unfit.

Proper preventive measures must be taken to defend ourselves against adverse

natural environment. Following are the things that lead to maintenance of a healthy and fit
person:

● Regular Exercise routine – Each individual should focus on a defined time for daily
exercise, as it directly affects both mental and physical health of a person.

● Balanced nutritional food intake – One should concentrate on each and every thing
to eat and drink. Having a balanced diet that includes essential minerals, vitamins and
proteins makes a person healthy and fit.

HEALTH AND FITNESS/ JSSELETARIA

 5
● Clean and tidy environment – We should make sure our surroundings clean and fit
for us to survive.

● Take appropriate amount of sleep. Each individual, as per medical norms, should
take at least 8 hours of sleep.

● Drink loads of water, as it helps to release toxins and improve one’s metabolism

● Maintain hygiene and have proper sanitation.

● Have a positive outlook towards life. For mental health, it is the key to stay fit and
healthy. Positive thoughts should rule the mind in order to stay happy and maintain the
mental and emotional health and fitness.

Staying healthy and fit is not difficult if taken as the foremost priority. By following the
abovementioned simple steps, each one of us can lead a healthy, fit and fruitful life.
Maintaining balance of thoughts, nutritional diet, rigorous exercise, Yoga, optimum level of
sleep are actually the main contributory factors for our wellbeing and a healthy and fit
lifestyle.

Health is influenced by many factors, genetic, behavioral, and environmental, that are
present prior to conception and continue throughout an individual’s life span. Since childhood
health predicts adult morbidity and mortality, it is beneficial to attain, sustain, and monitor
health from childhood to adulthood. The United States and other countries have designed
programs to measure or improve the health of the population in many different domains,
including physical fitness, and at all ages. Key to setting national health agendas and priorities,
as well as goals for individuals, is having goals for public health, metrics with which to
determine health reliably and accurately in various areas, and an understanding of how close
the population or individuals are to the established goals.

Most people believe being healthy and being fit are one and the same. In reality, they
can be separate states of physical being. You can be really fit, and not very healthy, and you

HEALTH AND FITNESS/ JSSELETARIA

 6
can be very healthy and not very fit. The best benefits are found with trying to get a balance
out of both sides, this requires us to identify the difference between fitness and health.

So let’s define the difference. Health has been defined by the World Health Organization as a
state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease
or infirmity. It includes aging well, longevity, quality of life, freedom from pain etc.

Fitness, on the other hand, is defined as a set of attributes that people have or achieve that
relates to the ability to perform physical activity. Fitness is made up of many components, and
the following factors need to be considered when discussing fitness levels:

1. Endurance (Cardiovascular and Cardio-Respiratory): This is your body’s ability to use

and deliver oxygen to your body.
2. Stamina (Muscular Endurance): This is your body’s ability to store, process, and use
energy.
3. Strength: This is the ability of your muscles or a muscular unit to apply force.
4. Flexibility: The ability to maximize the range of motion of a joint.
5. Power: The ability of your muscles to maximize their force in a minimum amount of
time.
6. Speed: The ability to minimize the amount of time it takes you to accomplish a task or
movement.
7. Coordination: The ability to combine several different movement patterns in a single
distinct movement.
8. Accuracy: The ability to control a movement in a given direction or intensity.
9. Agility: The ability to minimize the time going from one movement to another.
10. Balance: The ability to control the centre of gravity of your body in relation to your
support base.

Fitness involves activity of some sort that stimulates various systems of the body and
maintains a certain condition within the body. Health, on the other hand, involves every system
of the body and is only achieved through a lifestyle that supports health.

HEALTH AND FITNESS/ JSSELETARIA

 7
For instance, if a client of mine tells me that they have neglected to eat properly,
ignored the fat content, and ate mostly processed foods, all the exercise in the world couldn’t
possibly correct the damage done from such a lifestyle.

Exercise won’t remove the damage from chemicals, or improve immune system
damage or weakness from depleted foods. Only sound nutrition can support good health. Of
course, fitness can ALSO support health and WILL improve health if it is part of a WAY OF LIFE.
Our health is mainly the result of thousands of daily nutritional decisions.

As you continue on your personal health journey, or if you are just getting back on
track, ask yourself this simple question: “Am I on the road to becoming fit and healthy, or just
fit?” If your answer is “just fit,” try incorporating other aspects of wellness into a more
comprehensive plan that revolves around the combination of physical, mental, emotional and
spiritual health.

If it is simply healthy to get the doctor off your back, ask yourself what can I do to achieve more
and live life to the fullest? Healthy is good but if you can’t walk up the stairs without puffing
and being tired all day, or enjoy a holiday, whats its worth? Talk to your Exercise Physiologist
and ensure you are addressing both sides of the equation, set both health and
fitness/performance goals. Then step back and watch as you thrive.

Conclusion

Health is the most important thing that a person should take care of. Leading a
healthy lifestyle leads to happiness, success and achievements. Sound health not only means
keeping a health body but it also includes a healthy mental condition. Our health depends
upon several factors such as food, pollution, regular sleeping habits, fresh air, water, sunlight,
and healthy mental condition. Morning walks and physical exercises are very helpful for
ensuring the fitness of our mind and body. We create the conditions that lead to an unhealthy
and unfit lifestyle. That’s a fact. So, we should develop good habits, and become capable of
taking the required measures to lead a healthy and fit lifestyle. The way towards Healthy and

HEALTH AND FITNESS/ JSSELETARIA

 8
Active wellbeing is to focus on making the healthy choice at any given moment, rather than
postponing the things that are must to be done in the long term.

IV. Activities (Assignment)

Find and Interview at least two different person that you know. The first is the one
whom do you think has a healthy lifestyle and the other is the one who are not so
concern with their health. Make an analysis based on their answers to the questions
given. You can also add other questions related to health.

Questions:

1. What is health for you?

2. What is the best thing to do to stay healthy?

3. Do you consider yourself to be healthy? Why?

4. How often do you exercise?

5. What is your diet like? Do you eat mostly fruits and vegetables?

6. What do you think about the health care system in your country? How could it be
improved?

7. How long would you like to live?

8. If you could find out that you were at risk to get a certain disease, would you want
to know it?

I. References

https://www.nap.edu/read/13483/chapter/3#22

Importance_of_health_and_fitness_in_life.pdf

https://opt.net.au/optimum-life/difference-fitness-and-health/

HEALTH AND FITNESS/ JSSELETARIA

 9

HEALTH AND FITNESS/ JSSELETARIA