Unit 9B

Fitness and Health

Name: …………………………….. Year 9: …………

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Unit 9B – Fitness and Health _______________________________________________ Being “fit” means that your body is able to do the activities that your lifestyle demands. This may include being able to run upstairs without getting out of breath or being strong enough to lift things. Fitness, therefore, means different things to different people. To look at fitness in more detail we divide it into four S-factors : suppleness (flexibility), strength, speed, and stamina (how long you can do something for). However, diet, smoking, alcohol and exercise can affect fitness and health.

Diet and Health

A balanced diet contains the different nutrients in the correct amounts to keep us healthy. Certain foods are not necessarily 'bad' for us, but eating too much of them could be.

There are seven food groups: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, vitamins, fibre and water .

Some foods are particularly rich in certain nutrients. The table shows why we need each nutrient, and some good sources of each.

Nutrient Use in the body Good sources

Carbohydrate To provide energy Cereals, bread, pasta, rice and potatoes

Protein For growth and repair Fish, meat, eggs, beans, pulses and dairy products

Fat To provide energy. Also to store energy in the body and insulate it against the cold.

Butter, oil and nuts

Minerals Needed in small amounts to maintain health Salt, milk (for calcium) and liver (for iron)

Vitamins Needed in small amounts to maintain health Dairy foods, fruit, vegetables

Fibre To provide roughage to help to keep the food moving through the gut

Vegetables, bran

Water Needed for cells and body fluids Fruit juice, milk, water

If you have too little of a particular nutrient, we say that you have a deficiency in that nutrient. For example, fibre is needed to keep food moving through the intestines easily, and people who have a fibre deficiency in their diet may get constipation.

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Mineral deficiencies

People with iron deficiency may get anaemia and have too few red blood cells. People with iodine deficiency may get a swelling in the neck called goitre .

Vitamin deficiencies

Although we only need small amounts of the different vitamins in our diet, we become ill if we don't get enough. For example, vitamin A deficiency can cause blindness and liver damage. Vitamin C deficiency causes scurvy, which makes the gums bleed, and vitamin D deficiency causes rickets, which makes the legs bow outwards in growing children. Smoking and Health Smoking is very harmful to health. It causes around 80 per cent of deaths from lung cancer , bronchitis and emphysema in the UK, and almost a fifth of UK deaths from heart disease . Tobacco smoke contains many harmful substances. These include: tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide.

Tar

Tar causes cancer of the lungs, mouth and throat. It coats the surface of the breathing tubes and the alveoli. This causes coughing and damages the alveoli, making it more difficult for gas exchange to happen.

Smoke

Cells in the lining of the breathing tubes produce sticky mucus to trap dirt and microbes. Cells with tiny hair-like parts, called cilia , normally move the mucus out of the lungs. Hot smoke and tar from smoking damages the cilia. So smokers cough to move the mucus and are more likely to get bronchitis .

Nicotine

Nicotine is addictive - it causes a smoker to want more cigarettes. Nicotine also increases the heart rate and blood pressure, and makes blood vessels narrower than normal. This can lead to heart disease.

Carbon monoxide

Carbon monoxide is a gas that takes the place of oxygen in red blood cells. This reduces the amount of oxygen that the blood can carry. This means that the circulatory system has to work harder, causing heart disease.

Drugs and Health

Drugs are substances that affect our bodies. They can be medicines or recreational drugs, legal or illegal.

� Medicines are drugs that help people suffering from pain or disease. � Recreational drugs are taken for pleasure. Some recreational drugs are legal , such as tobacco, alcohol and caffeine. Most other recreational drugs are illegal , such as cannabis, ecstasy and heroin.

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Problems with drug use

Recreational drugs can be classified as depressants or stimulants . Most recreational drugs can be addictive . All drugs can damage the liver, because it is the liver that breaks drugs down in the body. Any drug that is misused can cause damage to the body, as well as personal and social problems. Injecting any drug with a needle and syringe that someone else has used may lead to a number of diseases from infected blood, including HIV and hepatitis.

Depressants

Depressants slow down messages in the brain and along the nerves. Alcohol is a depressant. Other depressants include cannabis , heroin and solvents (eg glue and aerosols). Some of the long-term effects of depressants on the body include damage to the liver, brain and heart. They can also have the following effects:

� alcohol can cause weight gain

� solvent abuse causes a rash around the nose and mouth

� Cannabis causes loss of memory and concentration, as well as an increased risk of mental illness.

Stimulants

Stimulants speed up messages in the brain and along the nerves. This makes you feel more alert. Caffeine is a stimulant and is found in cola drinks, coffee and tea. It makes you feel more energetic and alert, but it can also cause insomnia (difficulty in sleeping), headaches and nervousness. Cocaine , ecstasy and amphetamines are all illegal stimulants. They make you feel more energetic and confident, but they can damage the liver and heart. They can also cause loss of memory and concentration, and bring an increased risk of mental illness.

Exercise and Health

Exercise improves fitness, but you need to take care to exercise safely. It’s important to warm up gradually or high-impact exercise can cause injury. Sometimes the stresses and strains of sport can damage a joint, such as:

� Worn or torn cartilage � Stretched or torn ligament – a sprain � Pulled muscle – a strain � A broken bone

What is the difference between a sprain and a strain?

A sprain and a strain are both minor injuries, not fractured bones that impact the soft tissue of muscles, ligaments, and tendons. The difference between a strain and a sprain is that a strain is an injury to a muscle or tendon and a sprain affects ligament tissue. Both occur at joints where ligaments connect bone to bone and tendons connect bone to muscles. They are usually temporary, mild injuries that get treated similarly and heal quickly.

Regular exercise makes the heart bigger and stronger, improving fitness. However, arteries become blocked when fatty deposits form on their inside walls. If this happens in the brain, it can cause a stroke. If it happens in the arteries that supply the heart itself, it can lead to angina and a heart attack .

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How fit are you?

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Let’s find how fit you are

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A breathing model

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How much air do your lungs hold?

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Smoking is a dangerous activity

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To smoke or not to smoke

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Getting the message across

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The heart of the matter

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The dangers of glue-sniffing

Are the following True or False? Explain 1. The older you get, the fitter you are. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Disabled people can never be fit. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Smoking reduces your fitness. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 4. People who are fit are usually healthier than those who are unfit. ____________________________________________________________________________________

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Designing a leaflet

Match