A History of Health & Fitness: Implications for Policy Today

This book provides a unique and succinct account of the history of health and fitness, responding to the growing recognition of physicians, policy makers and the general public that exercise is the most potent form of medicine available to humankind. Individual chapters present information extending from the earliest reaches of human history to the present day, arranged in the form of 30 thematic essays covering topics from the supposed idyll of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and its posited health benefits to the evolution of health professionals and the possible contribution of the Olympic movement to health and fitness in our current society. Learning objectives are set for each topic, and although technical language is avoided as far as possible, a thorough glossary explains any specialized terms that are introduced in each chapter. The critical thinking of the reader is stimulated by a range of questions arising from the text context, and each chapter concludes with a brief discussion of some of the more important implications for public policies on health and fitness today and into the future. The material will be of particular interest to graduate and undergraduate students in ****public health, health promotion, health policy, kinesiology, physical education, but will be of interest also to many studying medicine, history and sociology.

Addresses the interest of the Exercise is Medicine movement Provides a unique and succinct account of the history of health and fitness Emphasizes the implications of the history of health and fitness for current and future public policy

Autorentext
Dr. R.J. Shephard, C.M., is Professor Emeritus of Applied Physiology in the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education at the University of Toronto, and a consultant in Exercise Sciences. He was Director of the School of Physical and Health Education (now the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education) at the University of Toronto for twelve years (1979-1991), and also served as Director of the University of Toronto Graduate Programme in Exercise Sciences from 1964 to 1985. During a varied career in the health sciences, he also served as a consultant to the Defence and Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine, the Toronto Rehabilitation Centre, the Directorate of Active Living, Health & Welfare Canada, and the University of Québec (Trois Rivières). He has held academic appointments in the Dept. of Physiology and the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto, the Centre des Sciences de la Santé, Université de Québec à Trois Rivières, and the Hôpital Pitié Salpetrière, Université de Paris, and was Canadian Tire Acceptance Limited Resident Scholar in Health Studies at Brock University from 1994 to 1998. Prior to moving to Toronto in 1964, he held appointments in the Department of Cardiology (Guy's Hospital, University of London), the High Altitude Research Unit of the R.A.F. Institute of Aviation Medicine, the Department of Preventive Medicine (University of Cincinnati) and the Applied Physiology section of the U.K. Chemical DefenceExperimental Establishment (Porton Down, U.K.). He holds four scientific and medical degrees from London University (B.Sc., M.B.B.S., Ph.D. and M.D.) and honorary doctorates from the University of Toronto, Gent University (Belgium), the Université de Montréal, the Université de Québec à Trois Rivières, and the University of Guelph, together with the Honour Award of the Canadian Society of Exercise Physiology, the Honor Award and a Citation from the American College of Sports Medicine, and the Honor Award of the North American Society for Pediatric Exercise Medicine. He has been a President of the Canadian Association of Sports Sciences, a President of the American College of Sports Medicine, Editor-in-Chief of the Year Book of Sports Medicine, founding editor of the Exercise Immunology Review, Editor in Chief of the Canadian Journal of Sport Sciences, Associate Editor of the International Journal of Sports Medicine, and a member of the Editorial Board of many other journals. He was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2014, in recognition of "his pioneering work in the field of exercise science and for promoting the health benefits of physical activity to Canadians." As a part of his research into many facets of the physiology, biochemistry and immunology of health, fitness, exercise and sport, he has been author, part-author or editor of some 100 books covering these topics in relation to able-bodied individuals and those with various types of clinical disability, and he has published some 2000 scientific papers on related issues.

Inhalt

Chapter 1. Those pesky dates: A simplified time line for the evolution of society.- Chapter 2. The hunter-gatherer idyll.- Chapter 3. Irrigation and the seductive sedentary lifestyle.- Chapter 4. Evolution of the sedentary lifestyle in classical culture.- Chapter 5. Were the lights turned off during the dark ages? Or did Muslim scholars keep knowledge a boil?.- Chapter 6. The renaissance: daring to challenge traditional wisdom.- Chapter 7. The Enlightenment: How far do reason and religion influence health and fitness in an age of industrialization?.- Chapter 8. The Victorian Era: A wealthier society offers new recreational possibilities, especially to women.- Chapter 9 . The Modern era: growing health in the face of unemployment and war.- Chapter 10. The Ludic impulse: why did early societies engage in play?.- Chapter 11. The classical Olympic Movement: an early stimulus to health and fitness?.- Chapter 12. The moder n Olympics: stimulus to health and fitness, or five-ring circus?.- Chapter 13. The early health professional- unfettered amateur, servant of the gods or wealthy charlatan?.- Chapter 14. Herb gardens, naturopathy and health.- Chapter 15. Bizarre by-ways in the search for good health.- Chapter 16. Caring for the sick: hospitals and hospices.- Chapter 17. The emergence of health science education.- Chapter 18. Literature in the search for health and fitness.- Chapter 19. Teaching health and fitness to the growing child: the physical educator.- Chapter 20. Co-opting fitness and sport for political objectives.- Chapter 21. Governmental involvement in health care and health promotion.- Chapter 22. Building the infrastructure and regulations for public health and fitness.- Chapter 23. Health and fitness in industry; the development of occupational health.- Chapter 24. Understanding the root causes of ill-health: the emergence of epidemiology, bacteriology and immunology.- Chapter 25 . The feminine touch in health and fitness.- Chapter 26. The emergence of professional associations and journals in the exercise sciences.- Chapter 27. The growing knowledge of anatomy and physiology through to the Enlightenment.- Chapter 28. Recent gains in knowledge of anatomy and physiology.- Chapter 29. Exercise as medicine in antiquity.- Chapter 30. The Post-modern era and beyond: Meeting future challenges to health and fitness.<p