A History of Health & Fitness : Implications for Policy Today
https://libcat.nshealth.ca/en/permalink/provcat43312
Roy J. Shephard.
--Cham:
Springer
, c2018.
- Available Online
- View e-Book
- Location
- Online
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 hea…
- Available Online
- View e-Book
- Author
- Shephard, Roy J.
- Responsibility
- Roy J. Shephard
- Place of Publication
- Cham
- Publisher
- Springer
- Date of Publication
- c2018
- Physical Description
- 1 online resource (xvi, 516 p.) : 124 illus
- ISBN
- 9783319650975
- 9783319650968 (print ed.)
- 9783319650982 (print ed.)
- 9783319879499 (print ed.)
- Subjects (MeSH)
- Health Policy
- Health Promotion - history
- History of Medicine
- Physical Fitness - history
- Public Policy - history
- Specialty
- History of Medicine
- Policy
- Abstract
- 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.áThe 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.
- Contents
- 1. Those Pesky Dates: A Simple Time Line for the Evolution of Society -- 2. The Hunter-Gatherer Idyll -- 3. Irrigation and the Seductive Sedentary Lifestyle -- 4. Evolution of the Sedentary Lifestyle in Classical Culture -- 5. Were the Lights Turned Off During the “Dark Ages?” -- 6. The Renaissance: Daring to Challenge Traditional Wisdom -- 7. The Enlightenment: How Far Did Reason and Religion Influence Health and Fitness in an Age of Industrialization? -- 8. The Victorian Era: A Wealthier Society Offers New Recreational Possibilities, Especially to Women -- 9. The Modern Era: Growing Health in the Face of Unemployment and War -- 10. The Ludic Impulse: Why Did Early Societies Engage in Play? -- 11. The Classical Olympic Movement: An Early Stimulus to Health and Fitness? -- 12. The Modern Olympics: A Current Stimulus to Health and Fitness or a Five-Ring Circus? -- 13. The Early Health Professionals: Unfettered Amateurs, Servants of the Gods or Wealthy Charlatans? -- 14. Herb Gardens, Naturopathy and Human Health -- 15. Bizarre By-ways in the Search for Good Health -- 16. Caring for the Sick: Hospitals and Hospices -- 17. The Emergence of Health Science Education -- 18. Literature in the Search for Health and Fitness -- 19. Teaching Health and Fitness to the Growing Child: The Physical Educator -- 20. Co-opting Fitness and Sport for Political Objectives -- 21. Governmental Involvement in Health Care and Health Promotion -- 22. Building the Infrastructure and Regulations Needed for Public Health and Fitness -- 23. Health and Fitness in Industry: The Development of Occupational Health -- 24. Understanding the Root Causes of Ill-Health: The Emergence of Epidemiology, Bacteriology and Immunology -- 25. The Feminine Touch in Health and Fitness -- 26. The Emergence of Professional Associations and Journals in Health and Exercise Science -- 27. The Growing Knowledge of Anatomy and Physiology Through to the Enlightenment -- 28. Recent Gains in Knowledge of Anatomy and Physiology -- 29. Exercise as Medicine in Antiquity and Today -- 30. The Post-modern Era and Beyond: Meeting Future Challenges to Health and Fitness.
- Format
- e-Book
- Location
- Online
