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.

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.