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Health aside, being in good physical shape is, of course, simply very pleasant. It is also, however, extremely beneficial to the health of our heart, lungs, and arteries.
In practice, though, it is quite difficult for a physician to recommend exercise as treatment. The patient simply nods, his eye on the prescription pad. Why not a pill? he is thinking. The doctor explains that he will not be as tired, or as itchy, or as itchy, if he plays more tennis, takes long walks, jogs, and so forth. As the patient puts on his shirt, he feels worse than ever. Exercise! How can I exercise when I am already too tired to get through the day? What the patient perhaps does not realize is that his chronic tiredness is a manifestation of his various anxieties and tensions, which are ‘burning him up inside’.
It has been shown that an adequate exercise programme improves not only physical fitness but also mental abilities. Carefully controlled trials have shown that speed of performance of intellectual tasks, memory, and learning ability are all improved following a ten-week exercise programme. Psychological testing following such a programme has also shown that the personality appears more content and less anxious. The mechanism by which exercise improves these factors is not known.
Exercise is most useful in another way too. It is a method of dispelling one of our most potent stresses, namely hostile aggression. This, unfortunately, is not only a collective national trait but a personal one too, lying deep within each one of us. It powers not only our careers, our games and our drama, but also the way we drive a car. The type of work most of us do involves less and less physical exertion. Hence one of the many stresses we suffer from is the stress of our own pent-up aggressive drives. One way of dispelling these is by physical exercise.
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