Module 9: Dimension of Development: Recreation, Physical Fitness, and Wellness

Learning Objective:

At the end of this chapter, the learners are expected to:

1. Define recreation, physical fitness, and wellness:
2. Explain how wellness can be achieved; and
3. Integrate wellness in mind and body by engaging in physical activities.

Overview

This chapter discusses recreation, physical fitness, and wellness. The healthier an
individual is, the more he/she can enjoy life.

Lesson 1: Recreation

Recreation pertains to activities done for leisure to promote a person’s well-being and
growth. It brings about a sense of mastery, achievement, exhilaration, acceptance,
satisfaction, success, personal worth, and pleasure. It enforces a positive self-image. It is also
a means to socialize, meet people, and gain new friends.

Characteristics of Recreation

1. Involves voluntary choice and participation of the individual

2. Includes physical activities that are well organized, date and time-flexible, suited to the
individual’s needs, and controlled by the individual in terms of location, time, clothing
and equipment, and other conditions.
3. Focuses on the individual’s participation more than on the results.
4. Accessible and available to all regardless of socio-economic status, age, sex, and
disability.

Physical Fitness

Proper diet, sufficient rest, and regular exercise help keep the body healthy. Being
physically fit enables a person to perform tasks successfully with vigor and alertness and
without feeling tired.

Physical fitness is a measure of the body’s ability to function efficiently and effectively,
resist diseases, and confront emergency situations. It is important not only to athletes but
also to everyone. It does not simply mean exercising regularly. It refers to a person’s overall
strength, flexibility, endurance of the heart, lungs and muscles, and body composition. It
includes nutrition and mental health.
 Here are some key concepts about physical fitness:
1. When exercising, the lungs take in additional oxygen which is fuel for the heart and
brain.
2. Being fit enables the body to fight off illnesses and diseases.
3. Exercise help reduce stress and tension. Strenuous exercise stimulates the body to
release endorphins. These endorphins produce a happy feeling in people.
4. Exercise strengthens the bones, which makes doing the daily tasks easier. It helps heal
major injuries.
5. Exercise helps a person lose weight. When a person is in shape, he/she has increased
muscle mass. Since muscle burns more calories than fat, this means a person’s body
uses up more calories and stores less of them as fat. Lower body fat is also associated
with a longer lifespan.
6. Exercise helps strengthen the heart, lungs, and immune system.
7. Regular exercise reduces the risks of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes,
and some type of cancer.
8. Exercise keeps the mind sharp, even as it improves brain function.
9. Being fit does not mean possessing a muscular build.
10.Regular exercise helps a person sleep faster, better, and longer.

Components of Physical Fitness

In its most general meaning, physical fitness is a state of good physical health. Physical
fitness is to the human body what fine-tuning is to an engine. It enables people to perform to
their maximum potential and helps them look and feel good. It affects their state of mind and
influences, to some degree, their mental alertness and emotional state.

Physical fitness involves the following components:

1. Cardiovascular endurance – the ability of the body to deliver oxygen and nutrients to
tissues and to remove wastes over sustained periods of time.
2. Muscular strength and endurance – the ability of the muscle to exert force for a brief
period of time
3. Muscular endurance – the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to sustain repeated
contractions or continue to apply force against an inert object.
4. Flexibility – the ability of the body to move joints and use the muscle’s full range of
motion
5. Body composition – the body in terms of lean mass (muscle, bones, vital tissues, and
organs) and fat mass. The optimal ratio of fat to lean mass is an indication of fitness.
Performing the right set of exercises can help people get rid of body fat and increase or
maintain muscle mass.

Benefits of Regular Physical Activities

The health benefits of regular exercise or physical activities are hard to ignore. The
following are some ways on how exercise can help improve your life.
1. Exercise helps control weight.
 Exercise helps prevent excess weight gain and maintain weight loss. When you
engage in a physical activity, you burn calories. The more intense the activities, the
more calories you burn. If you cannot do an actual workout, be more active throughout
the day in simple ways such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator or walking the
extra two blocks instead of riding the bus.

2. Exercise helps prevent heart diseases.

No matter what your current weight is, being physically active helps boost high-
density lipoprotein (HDL), or good cholesterol and decrease low-density lipoprotein
(LDL) or bad cholesterol which can form plaque that can narrow the arteries and
eventually lead to heart attack or stroke.

3. Exercise helps improve mood.

Regular exercise helps make you feel good, when you feel good, you feel confident
and happy.

4. Exercise helps boost energy.

Regular physical activity helps improve muscle strength and endurance and the
cardio-respiratory system. When your heart and lungs work more efficiently, you have
more energy to go about your daily chores.

5. Exercise helps enhance learning.

Exercise helps increase the level of brain chemicals that aid you in learning.

As a general goal, aim for at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day. Remember to
check with your doctor before starting a new exercise program, especially if you have any
health conditions.
Wellness

According to the American Heritage Medical Dictionary, wellness is “the condition of good
physical, mental, and emotional health, especially when maintained by an appropriate diet,
exercise, and other lifestyle modification.” It is further define by the Mosby’s Medical
Dictionary as “a dynamic state of health in which an individual progresses toward a higher
level of functioning, achieving an optimum balance between internal and external
environments.” Wellness is an expanded idea of health and both health and wellness are
terms that mean the ability to live life fully with vitality and meaning.

Lesson 2: Wellness
Six Dimensions of Wellness
 Wellness is a dynamic process of change and growth. Fahey et al (2001) give the following
dimensions of wellness:

1. Physical wellness is developed through the combination of beneficial physical

activity/exercise and healthy eating habits and lifestyle. It builds up muscular strength
and endurance, cardiovascular strength and endurance, and flexibility.

Physical wellness is also concerned with developing personal responsibility for your
own health such as caring for minor illnesses and knowing when professional medical
attention is needed, monitoring your own vital signs and understanding your body’s
warning signs, and recognizing the effects of nutrition on how your body performs. The
physical benefits of looking and feeling good most often lead to the psychological
benefits of enhanced self-esteem, self-control, determination, and a sense of direction.

2. Emotional wellness is rooted in how you accept and manage your feelings, understand
your limitations, navigate through stressful situations, and maintain healthy
relationships. This includes the degree to which you feel positive and enthusiastic
about yourself and your life. It is better to be aware of and accept your feelings than to
deny them. It is better to be optimistic than to be pessimistic in your approach to life.

An emotionally well person is able to express feelings freely and effectively, form
and sustain satisfying interdependent relationships with others based on mutual
commitment, trust, and respect, and take on challenges, risks, and conflict. As he/she
manages his/her life in personally rewarding ways and takes responsibility for his/her
actions, he/she sees life as an exciting, hopeful adventure.

3. Intellectual wellness emanates from one’s creative, stimulating, growth-oriented

activities that lead to learning new skills and sharing them with others.

It is better to stretch and challenge your mind with intellectual and creative
pursuits than to become self-satisfied and unproductive. It is better to identify potential
problems and choose appropriate courses of action based on available information than
to wait, worry, and contend with major concerns later.

An intellectual well person cherishes intellectual growth and stimulation through a

myriad of educational resources, keeps abreast of current issues and trends, and
pursues personal interests that enhance creativity and learning.

Intellectual wellness allows you to explore and expand the gifts that are uniquely
yours, bringing a richness to your life and the lives of those around you.

4. Spiritual wellness is rooted in the understanding that humans are spiritual beings.
Spiritually is not the same as religion. Some people can belong to a religion and not
have a very well-developed spirituality. Spirituality pertains to the ultimate meaning
and purpose of life that each individual needs to find and thus define a value system to
 operate within. Spiritual wellness is achieved as each person’s actions become more
consistent with his/her values and belief systems. It is better to live each day in a way
that is consistent with your values and beliefs than to do otherwise and feel untrue to
yourself.

As you explore your spiritual path, you may experience feelings if doubt, despair,
fear, disappointment, and dislocation as well as feelings of pleasure, joy, happiness,
and discovery. You will know you are becoming spiritually well when your actions
become more consistent with your beliefs and values and you can respect and tolerate
the beliefs and values of others.

5. Social wellness involves contributing to one’s environment and community. It

emphasizes the interdependence between others and nature and an awareness of your
importance in society as well as your impact on multiple environments. It is better to
contribute to the common welfare of the community than to think only of yourself. It is
better to live in harmony with others and your environment than to live and conflict
with them.

In this dimension of wellness, you take an active part in improving the world by
encouraging healthier living, initiating better communication with those around you,
and making willful choices to enhance personal relationships and to build a better
living space and community.

6. Environmental wellness encompasses how you care for the environment, create
environments that are free from violence and the threat of violence, and live in an
environment that is safe for you physically and emotionally.

In this dimension of wellness, you actively take responsibility for your personal well-
being and that of the environment.

Behaviors that Contribute to Wellness

The lifestyle of an individual is a personal choice that influences the quality of life. A
healthy lifestyle helps avoid diseases and hence keep you strong and fit. The most important
behaviors and habits that contribute to a healthy lifestyle are the following:

1. Be physically active. The human body is designed to work best when it is active. When
you care more for your body, bones, heart, and lungs, the stronger and more fit they
become.
2. Choose a healthy diet. A common person’s daily food intake is usually too high in
calories, unhealthy fats, and added sugars, and too low in fiber, complex
carbohydrates, fruits, and vegetables. This kind of diet is linked to a number of major
diseases, including heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and certain
kinds of cancer. A healthy diet promotes wellness and provides necessary nutrients
and sufficient energy.
3. Maintain a healthy body weight. Obesity is associated with a number of disabling and
potentially fatal conditions and diseases like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
Diabetes is a chronic and debilitating disease that affects how the body turns food into
energy. Normally, the food is converted into glucose and stored and used by the body.
The circulating insulin hormone stimulates the uptake of sugar by the body’s cells.
With diabetes something goes awry. The pancreas either stops producing insulin
completely for the type 1 diabetes or the body develops insulin resistance, a condition
wherein the body’s cell do not respond to insulin for type 2 diabetes. Either way,
concentration of sugar in the blood shoots up.

According to the Food and Nutrition Research Institute, four out of 100 adults aged
20 years old and above have diabetes with an increasing prevalence of the disease after
the age of 40.

Advancing age is cited as a risk factor for diabetes. The Philippine Diabetes
Association reveals that the blood sugar level among Filipinos increases after the age of
40.

In the Philippines, diabetes is ranked among the top 10 killer diseases due to its
many complications. People with diabetes face the risk of having a heart attack or
stroke.

A healthy body weight is an important part of wellness. Keep in mind, however, that
short-term dieting is not part of fitness or wellness. Maintaining a healthy body weight
requires a lifelong commitment to regular exercise, healthy diet, and effective stress
management.

4. Manage stress effectively. Many people cope with stress by eating, drinking, or smoking
too much. Others do not deal with it at all. In the short-term, inappropriate stress
management can lead to fatigue, sleep disturbances, and other unpleasant symptoms.
Over longer periods of time, poor management of stress can lead to less efficient
functioning of the immune system and increased susceptibility to disease. There are
effective ways to handle stress and they should form an important part of a healthy
lifestyle.

5. Prevent drug abuse through the following means:

a. Maintain good physical and mental health.

b. Use drugs as directed by the physician. Most drugs are beneficial when used under
medical advice or supervision.
c. Understand, accept, and respect your individual capacity or ability.
d. Develop your potential. Engage wholesome, productive, and fulfilling activities.
e. Learn to relate effectively to those who can communicate their problems freely.
f. Learn to cope with problems and other stresses without resorting to drug abuse.
g. Seek professional help if you feel that you cannot cope with the problems that you
encounter.
 h. Develop strong moral and spiritual foundation.

6. Protect yourself from disease and injury through lifestyle modification and
management.

Conclusion

Changing an unhealthy habit is harder than it looks, When you embark on a behavior
change plan, it may seem like too much work at first. But as you make progress, you will
gain confidence in your ability to take charge of your life. You will also experience the
benefits of wellness-more energy, greater vitality, deeper feelings of appreciation and
curiosity, and a higher and better quality of life.

Exercise

Name: _________________________________ Course and Level: __________________

Professor: ______________________________ Date: ______________________________

A. On the blank before each number, write the letter that corresponds to your answer.

_________ 1. Being _________ lets the body perform tasks with vigor and alertness.

A. Slim C. Physical fit

B. Active D. Fat
_________ 2. It brings about a sense of achievement, satisfaction, and personal worth.

A. Recreation C. Wellness
B. Leisure D. Party

_________ 3. It is a measure of the body’s ability to function efficiently and effectively.

A. Physical fitness C. Health

B. Wellness D. Lifestyle

_________ 4. _____________ exercise stimulates the body to release endorphins.

A. Gentle C. Regular
B. Strenuous D. Long

_________ 5. These produce a happy feeling in a person

A. Endorphins C. Vitamins
B. Acids D. Morphine
_________ 6. It is the ability of the body to move joints and use the muscle’s full range of
motion.

A. Flexibility C. Endurance
B. Strength D. Nutrition

_________ 7. It helps prevent excess weight gain and maintain weight loss.

A. Exercise C. Eating
B. Diet D. Fasting

_________ 8. It refers to the body’s lean mass and fat mass.

A. Nutrition C. Endurance
B. Body composition D. Energy

_________ 9. It is a dynamic process of change and growth.

A. Exercise C. Wellness
B. Diet D. Fasting

__________ 10. It leads to disabling diseases.

A. Diabetes C. Allergy
B. Obesity D. Fatigue

B. Write your brief answers to the questions on the lines provided.

1. What are the components of physical fitness? Explain each component.

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2. What are the dimensions of wellness? Explain each dimension.

____________________________________________________________________________________________
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3. How do you achieve wellness?

____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
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____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
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C. Write True on the blank if the statement is correct and False if the statement is wrong.

_________ 1. Recreation is voluntary.

_________ 2. Recreation focuses on results.
_________ 3. Flexibility is the ability of the body to move joints and use the muscle’s full range
of motion.
_________ 4. In its most general meaning, physical fitness is a state of good physical health.
_________ 5. Exercise helps prevent excess weight gain and maintain weight loss.
_________ 6. Exercise can help boost your mood.
_________ 7. Physical wellness includes caring for the environment.
_________ 8. It is better to stretch and challenge your mind with intellectual and creative
pursuits than to become self-satisfied and unproductive.
_________ 9. Social wellness involves contributing to one’s environment and community.
_________ 10. The human body is designed to work best when it is not active.
_________ 11. Obesity is associated with a number of disabling diseases like heart disease,
cancer, and diabetes.
_________ 12. A healthy body weight is not an important part of wellness.
_________ 13. Spiritually is the same as religion.
_________ 14. Many people cope with stress by smoking, drinking, and eating.
_________ 15. Being fit enables the body to fight off illnesses and diseases