Fitness Matters, Wellness Works! Exercise for Body and Mind

Exercise-The Best Medicine

Did you know that more and more doctors are making exercise a standard part of disease prevention in our country? Doctors are starting to ask about both nutrition and exercise levels at each doctor’s visit and are prescribing exercise to their patients just as they do health-enhancing medicine.

It is now well-documented that exercise helps not only physical health but it can also resolve symptoms of depression and anxiety, improve self-esteem, provide more restful sleep, decrease appetite, and build resiliency to help people quickly recover from adversity and daily stress. Dr. Robert Sallis, an MD and President of the American College of Sports Medicine, states, “If the health-enhancing benefits of exercise could be put in a pill, it would be the best selling pharmaceutical there ever was, as well as the safest and most effective.”

Exercise and Brain Function

Dr. John Ratey, a Harvard Professor and Physician specializing in ADHD and Alzheimer’s disease, believes exercise is Miracle Grow for the Brain and prescribes it for patients of all ages. Studies at Tufts University in Boston have demonstrated that exercise can produce benefits in both strength and cardio vascular fitness even for people in their nineties.

The latest research shows that for your brain to function at its peak, your body needs to move. This is why Ratey and others believe exercise is crucial to the way you think and feel. So, use this challenge to increase your activity levels to enhance your physical, mental and intellectual well-being. It may pay dividends for years to come!

Health and Fitness Newsletter

You may sign up to receive an electronic newsletter, which will be sent four times over the course of the school year. Each edition will have suggestions to improve your activity levels and nutritional habits, plus dates of upcoming events. To get more of our educational community involved, please forward the newsletter to colleagues who will benefit from renewed healthy habits.

To sign up for our mailing list go to: https://lists.uen.org/mailman/listinfo/utahhealth-pe/

For questions or comments about the Superintendent’s Fitness Challenge, contact USOE Health and P.E. Curriculum Specialist Frank Wojtech at frank.wojtech@schools.utah.gov or Jamie Ney at jamie.ney@schools.utah.gov.

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