The Effects of Physical Exercise on the Human Body The benefits of physical exercise in humans far out weighs the harmful effects associated with exercise. A prescription of physical activity has been known to delay the onset or prevention of many chronic diseases. An improvement in heart function, lower blood pressure and improve functional capacity is noticed after just a few weeks of exercising. Physical activity will also result in an increase of lean muscle mass, promote weight maintenance, increased flexibility, and a generally stronger more fit individual. Conversely, exercise when preformed strenuously or obsessively it can counteract such positive effects. Bringing up some issues like oxidative stresses, injuries, and compulsive exercise disorders. The Cardiovascular response to exercise occurs quite quickly, during exercise oxygen is demanded in the muscles and the body uses more nutrients, metabolic process speed up, more wastes are created, and the bodys temperature increases. With intense exercise hydrogen ion concentrations increase within the muscles and blood this results in an increased pH [16]. A study back in 1976 was done by researchers Hidetaro Shibayama and Hiroshi Ebashi on the effects of long-term physical training of adult men. Shibayama and Ebashi took five healthy males and gave them a routine of a twenty-min treadmill at two-thirds their V02 max for three years, five days a week. After a short while (just twenty weeks) the subjects resting heart rate decreased by five beats a minute, an increase of red blood cell count was shown, and a decrease in average cholesterol levels. Improvement in ventilation efficiency became evident, oxygen intake slightly improved as well, and lactate production decreased. The bodys goal is to allow the system to meet increased demands placed upon it by functioning efficiently such as heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output, aerobic capacity, and blood pressure le...
