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A History of Health & Fitness: Implications for Policy Today

  • Textbook
  • © 2018

Overview

Authors:
  1. Roy J. Shephard

    1. Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

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  • Addresses the interest of the Exercise is Medicine movement

  • Provides a unique and succinct account of the history of health and fitness

  • Emphasizes the implications of the history of health and fitness for current and future public policy

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Table of contents (30 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Those Pesky Dates: A Simple Time Line for the Evolution of Society

    • Roy J. Shephard
    Pages 1-8

  3. The Hunter-Gatherer Idyll

    • Roy J. Shephard
    Pages 9-22

  4. Irrigation and the Seductive Sedentary Lifestyle

    • Roy J. Shephard
    Pages 23-39

  5. Evolution of the Sedentary Lifestyle in Classical Culture

    • Roy J. Shephard
    Pages 41-58

  6. Were the Lights Turned Off During the “Dark Ages?”

    • Roy J. Shephard
    Pages 59-76

  7. The Renaissance: Daring to Challenge Traditional Wisdom

    • Roy J. Shephard
    Pages 77-95

  8. The Enlightenment: How Far Did Reason and Religion Influence Health and Fitness in an Age of Industrialization?

    • Roy J. Shephard
    Pages 97-117

  9. The Victorian Era: A Wealthier Society Offers New Recreational Possibilities, Especially to Women

    • Roy J. Shephard
    Pages 119-138

  10. The Modern Era: Growing Health in the Face of Unemployment and War

    • Roy J. Shephard
    Pages 139-167

  11. The Ludic Impulse: Why Did Early Societies Engage in Play?

    • Roy J. Shephard
    Pages 169-177

  12. The Classical Olympic Movement: An Early Stimulus to Health and Fitness?

    • Roy J. Shephard
    Pages 179-189

  13. The Modern Olympics: A Current Stimulus to Health and Fitness or a Five-Ring Circus?

    • Roy J. Shephard
    Pages 191-208

  14. The Early Health Professionals – Unfettered Amateurs, Servants of the Gods or Wealthy Charlatans?

    • Roy J. Shephard
    Pages 209-224

  15. Herb Gardens, Naturopathy and Human Health

    • Roy J. Shephard
    Pages 225-232

  16. Bizarre By-ways in the Search for Good Health

    • Roy J. Shephard
    Pages 233-245

  17. Caring for the Sick: Hospitals and Hospices

    • Roy J. Shephard
    Pages 247-255

  18. The Emergence of Health Science Education

    • Roy J. Shephard
    Pages 257-270

  19. Literature in the Search for Health and Fitness

    • Roy J. Shephard
    Pages 271-284

  20. Teaching Health and Fitness to the Growing Child: The Physical Educator

    • Roy J. Shephard
    Pages 285-311
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Keywords

About this book

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.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Roy J. Shephard

About the author

The author has conducted research, teaching and scholarly writing for the past 50 years in the area of fitness and health at the University of Toronto, and has received the Order of Canada in recognition of his major international contributions in these areas in terms of research, post-graduate teaching and applications of his research to Canadian government health policies. He has previously authored over 100 books and some 2000 peer-reviewed scholarly articles on a wide range of health topics, including a major monograph in this area {"An illustrated history of health and fitness from pre-history to our post-modern world"),  published by Springer.


A full and detailed curriculum vitae, with a list of books and other publications, is available on line, at: www.royshephard.net

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: A History of Health & Fitness: Implications for Policy Today

  • Authors: Roy J. Shephard

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65097-5

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Medicine, Medicine (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing AG 2018

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-65096-8Published: 24 November 2017

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-87949-9Published: 09 September 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-65097-5Published: 18 September 2017

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVI, 516

  • Number of Illustrations: 124 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, History of Biology, Sport Science , History of Education

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