What are the Benefits of Physical Activity?

Many studies have come to the general consensus that exercise is beneficial to a person’s overall health and well-being. People that partake in a proper training program by combining aspects of resistance training, stretching, and aerobic exercises are seen to have an improved quality of life, as well as a reduction in the onset of chronic diseases, when compared to their sedentary counterparts. As Warburton, Darren E.R. et al states in his article published in 2006,

“Health Benefits of physical exercise: the evidence,” physical inactivity is a modifiable risk factor for a widening variety of chronic diseases. Based on Warburton’s findings, both men and women saw a significant reduction in relative risk of death by taking part in an exercise program (20%-35% of recent studies found up to a 50% reduction) From this information we see

that exercise has beneficial pharmaceutical effects when defending against the onset of chronic diseases, and that exercise contributes to improving the health of patients who have already established a disease.

Physical Activity and ADHD

Recent studies show a positive correlation between exercise and the treatment of ADHD. In one study, exercise was prescribed in addition to methylphenidate (Ritalin), the prescription drug for ADHD. The research showed that the group that exercised had increased levels of dopamine, and higher brain activity in the right frontal and temporal lobes. The frontal lobe contains most of the dopamine sensitive neurons, and the temporal lobe is associated with processing sensory information into meaning for better retention. This suggests that exercise may be beneficial as a supplement to prescription medication such as Ritalin, in order to increase long – term benefits.