Ethical Issue Essay #3: Exercise...is the concept working?

The Less We Move, The Worse We Get

Looking back on my childhood, I always remember playing the hardest I could everyday. And, most of that time was spent outdoors, as I let my imagination lead the way. Lately, I have been noticing the childhood obesity epidemic within the city limits of Prescott, Arizona and I am shocked to see the large amounts of children who are overweight. When I was a child, I hardly ever remember the children around me being overweight, but today, it seems to be the norm. And, it is not just children who are being affected by the epidemic, but everyone is. What is happening to our lifestyles that are causing such a negative change in our bodies? Not only is the lack of proper diet a main culprit, but the importance of exercise has also taken a nosedive in our life choices. And, it is due to the lack of movement that the American population, amongst many others, has created such an issue of poor health. So, if we know that exercise is so vital, why isn’t the concept working? There are several viewpoints that provide the answers to such an uprising issue.

One viewpoint, given by James Hill, Holly Wyatt, and John Peters, provides an answer to the exercise issue by modifying the environment to reverse obesity. Due to the changes that the American population has made such as, the industrial revolution and the age of technology, our environment has been modified to the easiest extent. And, it has created the unintentional factors of weight gain. In the past, most eating behaviors and physical activity habits were performed from homegrown foods and physical labor. Today, our environment provides plentiful, inexpensive, high-energy food that is expended in sedentary pursuits. Not only has our poor lifestyle choices been provided by the booming industrial and technological movements, but also from the built, commercial, policy, and social/cultural environments. For example, our built environment is now filled with drive-thru windows that limit our physical activity levels. The commercial environment is now a big business of marketing foods, which are not recommended to be eaten frequently, and are especially aimed at young children by using cartoon and movie characters to advertise these foods. The policy environment has affected food intake by super sized, extra value meals that are loaded with sugar and fat. And the policies for physical activity are highly dependant on transportation, rather than using bikes or walking. And lastly, the social/cultural environment has provided deep-rooted belief that our society has to have a growing economy, by ways of buying many materials at the lowest prices and at this moment, not later. This belief makes it difficult for people to invest their future by making lifestyle changes in the present that will only provide results much later on. The plan to modify the environment to reverse obesity can occur by gradual changes in these environmental aspects. For example, our built environment should provide more sidewalks and bike paths than the typical urban sprawl. The commercial environment should provide more advertisement for nutrition and physical activity improvement by creative solutions like, cartoon and movie characters help promote healthy foods and automobile companies promote physical fitness by providing passes to state parks when a car is purchased. The policy environment should include physical activity at schools and in the workplace. And, the social/cultural environment should provide positive lifestyle choices like, healthy eating and physical fitness, by making them the norm so people will to conform to it and actually act upon it. There is also another viewpoint that provides answers to the issue of exercise.

A second stance, given by Georgia State University, provides answers to the exercise issue by physical activity. According to the viewpoint, more than 60% of United States adults do not participate in the recommended amount of activity. And, 25% of U.S. adults do not engage in any activity at all! In order to solve this dilemma, guidelines are given to help get into a groove of exercise that will not be strenuous and will be enjoyed. For example, they recommend incorporating physical activity through simple actions such as, walking stairs instead of taking the elevator, gardening, raking leaves, dancing, carrying a grocery basket rather than pushing a cart, playing with one’s kids, and parking in the farthest parking spot and walking to one’s destination. It also states that physical activity can also be achieved through a planned exercise routine or recreation with friends or family members. Furthermore, a physical activity pyramid has been created to help guide exercise into an individual’s life. All in all, physical activity should not be viewed as a chore, but as an adventure. Anyone who just decides to get up and start moving, no matter what is may entail, can improve overall health and have fun doing it. Although these two viewpoints both support the importance of exercise, there are some differences.

The first viewpoint provides a stance on improving all aspects of our environment to reverse the obesity epidemic. It uses hopeful techniques for the future by improving the built, commercial, policy, and social/cultural environments. It gives the entire population a chance to change for the better by stepping out of the developed negative paradigms of food and physical activity. Whereas, the second standpoint provides guidelines for incorporating physical activity into different lifestyles. It uses simplified tasks such as, walking stairs instead of using the elevator or gardening, as means to improve health. It gives individuals a chance to make better activity choices by easy to follow guidelines. While the first viewpoint provides countrywide solutions in reversing a particular epidemic, the second one gives individual solutions in well-being.

Looking back at my childhood, I was always active. And, I make sure that I am always participating in physical activity, because it feels good mentally, physically, and spiritually. Today, the childhood and adult obesity epidemic is becoming the norm, because of the lack of physical activity and poor food choices. But, everyone knows that exercise is so important to achieve optimal, lifelong health. Why is it not working? According to one perspective, the only way we can improve the obesity epidemic, is to improve all aspects of our environment such as, more sidewalks, healthy food and fitness advertisement, physical activity in schools and the workplace, and creating new norms of healthy lifestyles that people can easily conform to. Another viewpoint provides simple instructions to merely just get up and move such as, playing with one’s kids or carrying a grocery basket instead of pushing a cart while grocery shopping. And, it also supplies a physical activity pyramid for a daily guide. I love being active, but I do not look at exercise as another task I have to accomplish. Instead, I look at it as a benefit for my mental, physical, and spiritual state and that outlook gives exercise a source of entertainment for myself. In turn, I feel that individuals have to make the conscious choice to wanting to improve themselves through physical fitness that will push them to the edge, but will be fun as well. In the future, I believe that the issue of exercise will catch on in such a way that everyone will want to be a part of it. But, I think that can only happen if we are willing to let go of some of the luxuries to experience our “true” selves again.

Sources:
Pictures:
www.funmansion.com/images/exercise.png
www.speakwell.com/.../fitnessProgram.jpg

Movement Lab

Whether we are conscious of it or not, our muscles are always at work. And, it is due to our muscles within in our body that we are able to perform particular processes such as, walking, dancing, or simple movements such as, scratching an itch and clenching a fist. In the experiement of “How Do Your Muscles Work”, provided by Troy High Labs Online, can be used to determine how muscles react to particular situations. The first part of the lab offers an easy understaning of how muscles work from simple processes of muscle action. Then, the lab continues into the major part of the experiment, where the mucles are immersed in cold water and fatigued by repition. This lab is important, because it gives a hands-on learning experience to what actually happens to muscles in given circumstances. Also, provided below is the steps that were taken that were provided by the lab.

Troy High Labs Online: How Do Your Muscles Work?
INTRODUCTION:
Much of the work of the body depends on the contraction of skeletal
muscles. In this experiment you will first observe the characteristics of
muscle contraction and then will investigate the effects of two factors -
temperature and fatigue - on the action of your muscles.
MATERIALS:
dishpan of water
narrow strip of paper which will fit around upper arm
ice or snow
rubber ball or clothespin
timer (clock, watch, or stop watch)
PROCEDURE:
The following exercises will help you understand what happens to your
muscles when they contract.
Muscle Action
1. Place your fingers along the angle of your jaw just in front of your
ear. Grit your teeth and observe what happens to the hardness of the
muscles in your cheek.
2. With the thumb and little finger of one hand, span the opposite arm's
biceps (front muscle of the upper arm) from the elbow to as close to the
shoulder as possible. Bend the arm and observe the change in the length of
the muscle.
3. Wrap a strip of paper around your upper arm and mark the circumference
of your arm on the paper. Clench your fist tightly and mark the new
circumference on the paper. Observe what happens to the circumference of
the muscle.

Effect of Temperature on Muscle Action
1. Count the number of times you can make a fist in 20 seconds. Start with
your hand completely outstretched and make a tight fist each time. Do it
as rapidly as you can. Record the count in Figure 1.
2. Now submerge your hand in a dishpan of water to which has been added
snow or ice so that the temperature is near the freezing point. Leave your
hand in the water for one full minute.
3. Remove your hand and immediately count how

Picture: Clenching my fist before and after submerging hand in ice water.

many forceful fists you can
make in 20 seconds. Record in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Effect of Temperature on Muscle Action
Temperature Number of Fists

Normal 31
Ice Water 13

Effect of Fatigue on Muscle Action
1. Count how many times you can tightly squeeze a rubber ball in your hand
in 20 seconds. Record in Figure 2.
2. Repeat the squeezing nine more times and record results. Do not rest
between trials.
(An alternative procedure which works well is to open and close a
clothespin with the thumb and index finger while the other fingers are held
out straight.)

Picture: Squeezing a ball to find out what would happen after hand is fatigued.

Figure 2: Effect of Fatigue on muscle action
Trial # of Squeezes in 20 seconds
1 47
2 50
3 43
4 36
5 29
6 27
7 21
8 14
9 12
10 11

ANALYSIS OF DATA:
1. What are the three changes you observed in a muscle while it is working (contracted)?
The three changes I observed in muscle while it was working were the muscle became harder, larger, and became shorter and longer in length.
2. What effect did the cold temperature have on the action of your hand muscles? Explain.
The effect that the cold temperature had on the action of my hand muscles was that it slowed down the muscle’s contraction, the muscles became much more tense, and when I squeezed my hand, I had slight burning sensations in my lower palm. The reason why these reactions happened to my hand muscle, because as my hand was immersed in the ice cold water, my muscles were already contracting. They were already contracting to maintain homeostasis within the body, by speeding up the chemical processes in the cells from the reaction of the cold water. As I continued to clench my fist after I pulled my hand out of the water, the cells within the body had to work even harder to maintain equilibrium.
Attempts Number
3. What effect did fatigue have on the action of your hand muscles? Explain.
The effect that fatigue had on the action of my hand muscles was that it causes the muscles to expand and contract at a slower rate. And, as the squeezing of the ball continued, without rest, it became harder for my muscles to work at a constant rate. The reason why this occurred is due to cellular respiration. When oxygen is lacking in the cells, the normal process of cellular respiration leads to fermentation, where the cells work harder, but more quickly, to make energy. Then, the formation of lactate occurs, creating buildup, and fatigue of muscles.

Our muscles are always at work. And, it is due to our muscles within in our body that we are able to perform particular movements. In the experiement of “How Do Your Muscles Work”, provided by Troy High Labs Online, was used to determine how muscles react to particular situations. The first major part of the experiement displayed the reaction of the hand muscles when they are immersed in ice water, and then contracted for a short amount of time afterwards. The second major part of the lab displayed the reaction of the hand muscles when they are fatigued, by squeezing a ball continuously for an amount of time. The reasoning behind the particular reactions that occurred to the hand muscles in the two different experiments can be explained on a cellular level. During the clenching of the fist after being submerged

Picture: How muscle contraction occurs

in ice water, the muscles were much more tense and contraction slowed down. The cells within the body were reacting to the presence of cold by the sensory receptors in the peripheral nervous system. The central nervous system responded by creating more energy to be expended to contract the muscle, in order to maintain homeostasis in the body. While squeezing the ball continuously, the muscles contracted at a slower rate, due to fatigue. The cells within the body were lacking oxygen in order to fulfill the normal process of cellular respiration. This lead to fermentation, which created lactate buildup, and the end result of muscle exhaustion. Overall, this lab gives a hands-on understanding to what actually happens to muscles in given circumstances.

Sources:

Pictures: www.mmi.mcgill.ca/.../mandl-7no11firstframe.gif

Lab: www.troy.k12.us/thsbiology/labs_online/home_lab...