Exercise and Health

• Moderate exercise is preferred to very low levels of activity and very high levels as both have their risks.
• Very low levels of exercise can lead to obesity as sedentary life disrupts the energy budget causing an energy input higher than the energy output.
• Adult onset Diabetes Mellitus (Type II DM) appears in adult life where there is a failure to control blood glucose level.
• It may be due to low level of insulin production by pancreas or peripheral resistance to insulin at target cells.
• A correlation is found between low activity and increased risk of DM, as increased aerobic respiration is thought to decrease the risk.
• A causation can’t be established, because the link is sometimes thought to be due to obesity caused by lack of exercise not the lack of exercise itself.
• Coronary heart disease can be due to obesity, DM, or sluggish circulation that increases the risk of atheroma and thrombus.
• Moderate exercise improves the immune system functionality, but vigorous exercise causes reduced immune system activity.
• The intense stresses of excessive exercise may cause temporary immune suppression by decreasing the number of phagocytes, B and T lymphocytes.
• When athletes travel to competitive sport events in other countries, they become exposed to unfamiliar pathogens.
• Overcrowdedness in some athletic events increases the risk of transmission of infections.
• Overtraining may cause two types of injuries: traumatic injuries due to a blow from single application of force as in contact sports, and overuse injuries due to wear and tear produced which may cause inflammation of joints (Arthritis).
• Modern technology in treatment of joint diseases includes keyhole surgery (Arthroscopy) where injuries aren’t usually fixed by surgery alone, other treatments such as physiotherapy and anti-inflammatory drugs are needed too for a full recovery.
• Keyhole surgery is a way of doing surgery without making a large incision in the skin.
• Surgeons make a much smaller incision in the patient, and they insert a tiny video camera and specialized medical instruments through the incision into the body.
• There are many advantages of keyhole surgery: it involves creating a small incision so the risk of infection is reduced, less anaesthetic is needed so the risk of reactions to anaesthesia is reduced, since incision is smaller, patients lose less blood and have less scarring of the skin, patients are usually in less pain after their operation and they recover more quickly, because less damage is done to the body, this makes it easier for the patient to return to normal activities and their hospital stay is shorter.
• Disadvantages of keyhole surgery include requiring high degree of training and expensive objects, can only be used in certain types of surgeries.
• Damaged cruciate ligaments can be fixed by keyhole surgery.
• Prostheses can replace damaged body parts.
• Prostheses can be used to replace whole limbs or parts of limb.
• Some prostheses include electronic devices that operate the prostheses by picking up information sent by the nervous system.
• Replacing a joint is known as Arthroplasty.
• Advantages of Arthroplasty include reducing pain and restoring mobility allowing for moderate exercise.
• Disadvantages of Arthroplasty include artificial joints wearing out quickly and not allowing for all types of exercise.
• Performance enhancing drugs are drugs that will improve a person’s performance.
• Various kinds of performance enhancing drugs have different effects on the body, for example: Anabolic steroids increase strength, speed and stamina by increasing muscle size and allowing athletes to train harder, they also increase aggression.
• Stimulants speed up reactions, reduce fatigue and increase aggression.
• Narcotic analgesics reduce pain, so injuries don’t affect performance.
• Use of performance enhancing drugs is controversial, with some people thinking that performance-enhancing drugs should be banned from all sports because they are morally wrong and should never be used, while others think that the use of these drugs can be justified in certain circumstances.