WOMEN’S BODIES: EXERCISE
People have always known that recreational physical activity is a good thing. It clears the mind, refreshes the body and lifts the spirits. But attitudes to ‘how much?’, ‘what sort?’ and ‘who should?’ have varied over the years.
There was a period earlier this century when strenuous exercise was viewed unfavourably for anyone much over the age of 30, and especially for women. It was ‘unladylike’ to exert oneself to the point of sweating. My mother’s generation had been taught that rest was good and that most things that went wrong with health could be blamed on ‘doing too much’. In those days, when there were few cars, less public transport, less labour-saving devices and fewer machines in industry, the activities of daily life involved much more physical activity. More restful recreations were popular before the days of washing machines, motor-mowers and vacuum cleaners, when laundry was wrung by hand and wood was gathered, chopped and carried for the stove, fireplace and bath-heater. ‘A cup of tea and a lie down’ was the carrot that kept women going through their tiring household chores. All Eliza Dolittle wanted was one enormous chair and lots of chocolate to eat: these days she would miss out on the ‘Life. Be In It’ gold star.
As recently as in the 1960s it was rare to see a jogger on the streets or in the park; we hadn’t heard of ‘aerobics’, and who would have thought that gymnasiums would become standard features in every suburb or town. How times have changed! Exercise has come back into vogue with a vengeance! I’m always tickled to see men and women in smart business clothes and sneakers striding to work, their office shoes swinging jauntily at their sides.
What could account for such a change? No doubt people have become more aware of the health benefits of exercise, and are certainly more weight conscious. Perhaps more people took up sedentary occupations after the Second World War, started feeling a bit unfit and sought some lively exercise. Whatever their reasons, those who tried it discovered the wonderful ‘high’ that results from working up a good sweat from recreational exercise (which for some reason is so much better than the feeling from the same amount of sweat produced by, say, digging post-holes). This feeling had previously been the privilege only of serious athletes.
Physiologists explain that the good mood results from narcotic-like substances being released in the brain during and after certain types of exertion. People became ‘hooked’ on their daily dose of exercise-induced euphoria.
A research review from the USA has confirmed that exercise is good for the mind and soul as well as the body. Many studies have measured various effects of aerobic exercise in healthy people (aerobic exercise is activity that causes the body to use increased oxygen, evidenced in increased heart and breathing rates). Exercise contributes to an enhanced sense of well-being and reduces negative emotional states such as anger, anxiety and depression. It improves cognitive functioning (problem-solving ability, concentration, short-term memory) and contributes greater responsiveness and quicker reactions. Also, exercise reduces cardiovascular reactions to stress, and leads to positive changes in eating habits, smoking sexual functioning. Anyone for an early morning run around the park?
It seems to me that the craze for strenuous exercise is starting to settle down. Maybe people are discovering that they can get that lovely glow from moderate exercise, without the risk of sprained ankles, torn ligaments and aching joints and muscles.
*23/31/5*
