Thousands of people die every year from a lack of physical activity.
In the high schools I attended there was only one semester of a physical education class required. Only one semester of my life was I forced to do physical activities in my high school. I remember my peers and I dreaded going to P.E. class because we had to run the mile that day or because we had to play volleyball and we were not very good at it. However, with the obesity epidemic spreading throughout the United States, I think there needs to be a change. Physical education needs to be promoted more, to both young people and adults, than ever before.
An estimated 65 percent of Americans are overweight and obese. This makes me very concerned.
A new program encourages U.S. physicians to prescribe exercise as a medicine to patients, as a way to treat and prevent illness.
Many people go to the doctor and become dependent on the prescription drugs they are prescribed too. They think that just because they are taking a medicine for diabetes that they can continue their daily habits. However, this assumption is very false. To beat the illness, you must change both your eating habits and your daily exercise routines. There are many diseases out there that a short exercise, five times a week can help cure: diabetes, high-blood pressure, cholesterol problems and hypertension.
However, exercise does not only help cure physical diseases but mental ones too. Exercise can help relieve stress, calm anxiety and raise self-esteem. Exercise can be used as a tool to make you feel better about yourself and your current situations. When you do go on a 30-minute walk, you release endorphins that make you feel happy. You just took a little time out of your day, and it already started to help. The best part of it all is that you did not have to pay out a whole bunch of money to see a doctor. Exercise is free.
Exercise is the cheapest and most convenient medicine to take. We should all start taking a dose a day.
Reflection of “Exercise is Medicine” with Kara LaRue
