Exercise and physical conditioning or physical fitness play an important role in disease prevention. The three primary components of physical conditioning are endurance, flexibility, and strength training. Like adults, adolescents can improve their aerobic fitness by doing aerobic activity with achievement of 60% to 90% of the maximum heart rate ...

Exercise and noise exposure causes temporary hearing loss. Yet, a direct relationship may exist between cardiovascular health and hearing. The purpose of this study was to determine whether noise and exercise caused different levels of hearing loss depending on one's cardiovascular fitness. Twenty-eight volunteers were considered: high fit VO2peak = ...

Physically active individuals generally show a reduced risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) compared to the sedentary population. However, whether such reduction in CHD risk mainly results from the concomitant improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness or from the alterations in CHD risk factors has yet to be clearly established. Furthermore, there ...

We have tested the hypothesis that the composition of alveolar surfactant varies with pattern of breathing and level of fitness. We examined three major components of surfactant, surfactant protein A (SP-A), disaturated phospholipids (DSP), and cholesterol (CHOL) in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid from 12 healthy men before and after exercise. ...

Interrelationships between metabolic and cardiorespiratory health were examined in 350 healthy adults. Four principal components accounted for 66.7% of the variance in 172 males (M) and for 62.4% in 178 females (F). Factor 1, "obesity," related to body mass index, abdominal circumference, total skinfold thickness, and (M only) abdominal/hip circumference ...

In this investigation the physical fitness of 34 recruits to the UK Fire Service was assessed before and after their initial training (tests 1-2) and on three occasions (tests 3-5) during the first 18 months of their service (n = 34 + 6 = 40). The initial training (test 2-test ...

Exercise-associated lower gastrointestinal symptoms seem to be a fairly common clinical finding occurring in anywhere from 10-50% of runners. However, it is unclear what percentage of those affected may have discrete medical conditions that are exacerbated by strenuous physical exertion. Perhaps, difficult physical training sessions function as a "stress test" ...

Variation in fit factors during quantitative respirator fit testing was studied for a high degree of fit (aerosol fit factors > 1000) and a low degree of fit (aerosol fit factors < 1000). In a controlled human study, fit factors were determined sequentially for three different exercises by (1) an ...

Physical activity epidemiological studies provide one of many types of research evidence that are necessary to assess the importance of physical activity to health. Available epidemiological evidence, when coupled with relevant experimental and clinical research, suggests that physical activity has the potential to favourably influence the development and progression of ...

The reproducibility and short-term, less than 3 days, variability of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) were studied in 23 young, otologically healthy subjects engaged either in strenuous physical exercise or relatively sedentary occupations. Tympanometry was also performed. TEOAEs were highly reproducible. No differences were found between the two subject groups, ...

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends the use of 40%, 60%, 80%, and 85% of maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) as target values in developing exercise prescriptions. Further, the ACSM states that 55%, 70%, 85%, and 90% of maximal heart rate (HRmax) may be used as indices of these ...

This study measured the association between the severity of work in occupations performed most frequently by women, workload (as relative aerobic strain and heart rate during work) and the reaction to work measured on the basis of changes after work in the subjective fatigue rating and working ability. The results ...

The purpose of this study was to determine physical fitness level of lignite miners in the Czech Republic. The authors have examined a representative group of 152 active lignite miners by bicycle spiroergometry. The duration of employment in coal mines ranged between 5 and 32 years. The average age was ...

The purpose of this study was to identify some psychological determinants of exercise adherence on which public school physical education programs may have an impact. Data were collected twice, once representing a structured physical education classroom setting (N = 132), and later representing an unstructured summer vacation exercise setting (N ...

The effects of aerobic exercise on the fitness level of adults with physical disabilities were examined in this research. Twenty-one individuals participated in a pretest-posttest research design that compared the effects of an aerobic exercise program upon experimental and control subjects, specifically, on body weight, resting, and exercise cardiorespiratory and ...

The effects of two weeks of reduced activity on gastrointestinal transit time were studied in nine healthy elderly subjects, who had engaged in regular recreational exercise for ten years. Physical inactivity was achieved by a restriction of all kinds of physical exercise and by staying at home. Mouth-to-cecum transit time ...

This experiment examined the effect of physical exercise on measures of cognitive performance, Raven's Matrices, and an adaptation of the revised WAIS arithmetic subtest. We also tested the inverted-U hypothesis of an interactive relation between exercise-induced arousal and cognitive performance. 50 physically active men were assigned to five groups (n ...

Serum creatine phosphokinase (CPK), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activities were assayed in 15 healthy but untrained subjects (US) and seven Olympic rowers (OR). Blood samples were obtained at rest, and five and 60 minutes after an ergometer test, during which cardiorespiratory data were obtained. OR demonstrated higher ...

Symptom-limited, graded exercise treadmill testing was performed by 4,968 white and black adults, ages 18-30 yr, during the baseline examination for the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. Compared with nonsmokers, the mean exercise test duration of smokers was 29-64 s shorter depending on race/gender group (all ...

This paper examined the extent to which a reliable measure of leisure-time physical activity is predictive of self-perceived fitness among 40 British university students (mean age = 20.6 yr.). Spearman's rank-order correlations indicated that self-perceived fitness, on an ordinal scale of 1 through 5, was positively correlated 0.48 with Total ...

The relative impact of three different approaches to physical fitness at the work site on cardiovascular risk reduction is examined, based on before/after health screening of employees, and employees' reports of participation in physical exercise activities. The three approaches tested were: 1) a staffed physical fitness facility, 2) one-to-one counseling ...

Recent social policies have focused on reentering persons with mental retardation (MR) into the work force and the mainstream of society. However, as individuals with MR age, their rate of institutionalization greatly outweighs that of the general population as well as children with MR. Health care organizations have expressed serious ...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disease characterized by a variety of potentially debilitating symptoms. The manner in which the disease affects each individual is unique; however, many individuals with MS have a normal life expectancy and remain ambulatory throughout their lives. Very little research has focused on understanding how ...

The influence of strenuous physical exercise (swimming until exhaustion) or physical training (swimming 90 min daily during 20 days) on different aspects of phagocytic function of peritoneal macrophages from Swiss mice was studied. The adherence capacity was not modified by strenuous or training exercise. The spontaneous mobility, chemotaxis, spontaneous attachment ...

Two studies examined the effects of physical activity/exercise on physical self-perceptions, self-efficacy, body satisfaction, fitness and relationships among these variables. In study 1, 34 female undergraduates participated in a 10-week exercise/activity program. Participants were selected from existing classes forming a weight training, aerobic exercise and activity control group. Results revealed ...

18 adult female volunteers, ages 27 to 49 years, were divided into two groups based on their cardiorespiratory fitness to investigate speed and accuracy of addition and subtraction immediately, 5 min., and 15 min. postexercise. A 2 (fitness level) x 3 (exercise duration) x 3 (postexercise performance trials) repeated-measures analysis ...

BACKGROUND: Research on smoking and physical activity provides strong evidence of smoking's negative impact and physical activity's positive impact on long-term health. However, evidence regarding the association between smoking and exercise activity and the independent effects of these factors on fitness is lacking. METHODS: The associations among exercise activity, smoking ...

The lack of physical fitness is a contributing factor to the etiology of musculoskeletal disorders resulting from the manual handling of material in industry. Thus the major objectives of this paper were (1) to discuss the role of physical fitness in the control of occupational injuries; (2) to review techniques ...

The history, physical characteristics and fitness status of 60 persons who had sustained a spinal cord injury at least 3 years previously were considered in relation to current occupation. All subjects had completed their education, 39 being gainfully employed and 21 unemployed. The general characteristics of the sample, mainly beneficiaries ...

There is unanimous agreement that regular exercise is essential for optimal function of the human body. It is evident that extrinsic factors, such as diet and exercise habits, are reflected in the morbidity and mortality statistics, especially in aging. Aging is obligatorily associated with reduced maximal aerobic power and reduced ...

A case-control study of Parkinson's disease and physical exercise was conducted in a cohort of 50,002 men who attended Harvard College (Cambridge, Mass) or the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) between 1916 and 1950 and were followed up in adulthood for morbidity and mortality data. Cases of Parkinson's disease were identified ...

BACKGROUND: This paper is the second of two reports that together review the scientific evidence regarding the inverse relation between physical activity and cardiovascular fitness and coronary heart disease (CHD). METHODS: Using a MEDLINE search with the key words exercise, physical fitness, coronary heart disease, and cardiovascular disease, more than ...

In this paper, the ideas and concepts of expert systems were combined with the principles of fitness to demonstrate how an expert system could be designed to prescribe exercise routines for corporate employees. Since the examples and the rules of fitness used herein were just a small fraction of what ...

There is a pronounced plasticity and adaptability in the structural and/or functional properties of cells, tissues, and organ systems in the human body when exposed to various stimuli. While there is unanimous agreement that regular exercise is essential for optimal function of the human body, it is evident that extrinsic ...

There is international agreement that those in the community who are habitually active, either in work or in leisure, have a better coronary risk profile and a lower death rate from coronary heart disease (CHD). This agreement is usually translated into recommendations encouraging the population to perform regular aerobic exercise ...

At a cellular level, the major phenomenon in Dupuytren's contracture is an increase in proliferating fibroblasts, rather than an alteration in the type of fibroblasts. The collagen and glycosaminoglycan changes observed in the tissues of Dupuytren's contracture are likely to be secondary to changes in fibroblast density. Oxygen free radicals ...

A field study assessed the actual spectral noise attenuation achieved by 40 industrial workers wearing four different hearing protection devices (HPDs) while on the job. The effect of two different HPD fitting procedures (subject fit vs. trained fit) on attenuation performance over two three-week periods of protector use was determined. ...

In the evaluation of the general functional fitness and/or work capacity of subjects for the purpose of exercise diagnostics, physical fitness enhancement in untrained healthy subjects or sportsmen and exercise rehabilitation of patients, two types of ergometers are generally used: a bicycle ergometer and a treadmill. To facilitate the conversion ...

Inactivity is the risk factor with potentially the greatest public health impact, according to the 1989 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force report. Our study reports changes in subjects' physical fitness level after simple changes aimed at enabling community members to adopt more easily active lifestyles. Simple environmental and social alterations ...

Physical inactivity is a risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis. Members of a state chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics were assessed about their practice behaviors and knowledge related to physical activity and fitness assessments. During health supervision evaluations 19% obtained a physical activity history and 7% measured ...

The effect of various confinement conditions on physical fitness in dogs was evaluated. Eighteen 9.5- to 10-month-old female purpose-bred Beagles were maintained individually for 3 months at a time in 1 of 6 confinement conditions: Condition A--an outdoor housing area with a conventional dog house and free access to a ...

An increased understanding of the factors that promote or hinder patients' return to optimal activity levels after a cardiac event is necessary to help them achieve this goal. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to examine psychologic resources, depression, physical recovery, and illness severity for their relationships with subjective ...

Genetic and environmental factors determine man's physical fitness. To the environmental factors exerting an active influence on the human organism belong intensive motoric exercises in the form of sport. With the passing of time there occur involutive structural and functional changes in man's organism. In order to determine the degree ...

To elucidate the relationship between physical activity and the progress of diabetic nephropathy, patients were divided into two groups with physical activity maintained (G) or restricted (R). The period between the onset of 1+ and 3+ proteinuria was 56 +/- 25 months in G and 68 +/- 25 months in ...

Staying physically fit while injured can improve the patient's outlook, both physiologically and psychologically, and help him or her return to regular activities completely, safely, and with decreased risk of re-injury. Although treating and protecting the injured area is of primary concern, it is important to then look beyond the ...

Exercise habits, cardiovascular fitness, and selected psychological characteristics were assessed in a sample of over 200 men and women at entrance to medical school. Fitness was measured with a step test, and other variables were measured with standardized questionnaires. Anger ('anger-in') showed the strongest negative correlation with both exercise and ...

A cohort of 6165 municipal workers 44 to 58 years of age was followed during 1981-1985. The most impairing work loads were poor work postures and poor physical climate, whereas good possibilities for development at work prevented work disability. Aging particularly increased the incidence of work disability, whereas physical exercise ...

The present investigation was designed to evaluate whether dynamic physical exercise is able to modify stapedius reflex (SR) activity and, as a consequence, to influence the amount of temporary threshold shift (TTS). Experimental subjects were 10 normal-hearing male volunteers, aged 27-34 years (mean 30.8). SR parameters in the time-domain were ...

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which time spent watching television is associated with cardiovascular fitness among 8,885 adults. Potential confounding effects of age, gender, smoking, length of work week, time reported exercising each week, and obesity were also examined. Subjects who watched TV more ...

Bicycling, both indoor and outdoor, seems to be an excellent exercise for most patients with arthritis because it meets the criteria for the ideal recreational physical activity. This article outlines the physical and biomechanical advantages of bicycling as exercise and familiarizes the reader with the types of equipment available for ...