13.1 Healthy eating 68–69 13.2 You and your weight 70–71
14. You and exercise
14.1 Exercise 72–73 14.2 Exercise, sleep and your mental health 74–75
15. You and your feelings – managing emotions
15.1 Managing your emotions 76–77
15.2 Managing grief 78–79
15.3 Dealing with divorce or parents splitting up 80–81
16. You and your money
16.1 Pocket money 82–83
16.2 Budgeting 84–85
17. You and your leisure
17.1 How you spend your time86–87 17.2 Internet gaming addiction88–89
18. You and your opinions
18.1 Speaking your mind 90–91
18.2 Listening and giving feedback92–93
19. You and the local community
19.1 Being a good neighbour94–95
20. You and first aid
20.1 First aid: what to do in an emergency 96–97
Acknowledgements
14.1 Exercise
Exercise benefits both your mental and physical health.
Why exercise is good for you
Stuart Lewis explains why exercise keeps you fit and healthy.
Exercise is good for your whole body and for your mental health.
• When you exercise, your body produces chemicals that make you feel good.
• Exercising helps you to sleep better.
• Exercise can help you when you are feeling low and depressed.
• Exercise helps you to have a positive outlook on life.
• Exercise can give you a sense of achievement.
Exercise is good for your appearance and can make you look better.
• Exercise burns up the calories in your diet.
• It can keep your weight down or help you to lose weight if you are overweight.
• Exercise keeps your muscles toned.
• Exercise can help to stop you getting ill.
• Exercise keeps your heart healthy and helps to prevent heart diseases.
• Exercising will keep your bones strong.
The three elements of fitness
Stamina
Exercise increases your stamina or staying power – your ability to keep going without getting out of breath. It helps to keep your lungs in good condition. When you exercise you breathe more quickly and deeply because you need more energy and use up more oxygen.
The kind of exercise that stimulates your heart and lungs is known as aerobic exercise. It includes activities such as walking, jogging, running, cycling and swimming, as well as games like football, netball and basketball.
Strength
Exercise builds up your muscles and makes you stronger. You don’t have to lift weights. There are exercises you can do at home without needing any special equipment, such as press-ups, burpees and step-ups.
Suppleness
‘Exercise is boring. I don’t do any except in games lessons at school.’
‘I don’t have time for exercise. I’m too busy playing computer games or watching videos.’
‘Why should I bother about exercising? I get fed up with people telling me how to spend my time.’
Discuss what you would say to these three people to try to convince them that exercise is important. Then, with a partner, role-play a scene in which one of you tries to persuade the other to start exercising.
Exercise develops your suppleness. If you are supple, you are more flexible. You can bend and stretch your body more easily and you are less likely to injure yourself. There are stretching exercises you can do at home to improve your suppleness.
Exercise: your questions answered
Q. Will exercise help me to grow more quickly?
A. I’m afraid not. Your growth rate is determined by when you go through puberty, not by the amount of exercise you do. So exercise will develop your muscles, but it won’t make you taller.
Q. Can I take anything to increase the benefits of exercise?
A. Don’t start taking any substances that people claim will increase your performance, except anything your doctor prescribes, such as for asthma. And whatever you do, don’t take steroids.
Q. Why are steroids dangerous?
A. Anabolic steroids are a manufactured version of the male hormone testosterone. They are taken by bodybuilders to build up their muscles and used by some athletes to try to improve their performance. However, they have a lot of side effects. For example, women who take them can develop facial and body hair and become more masculine. They can affect a teenager’s growth.
Find out more on the effects of taking anabolic steroids and why they are banned in all sports.
An exercise challenge
If you find it hard to motivate yourself to take exercise, set yourself an exercise challenge.
It could be to:
• run for 10 minutes without getting out of breath
• walk 5 kilometres
• swim 30 lengths of the swimming pool
• cycle round the playing field 20 times
• play a tennis match lasting half an hour.
Physical health and wellbeing
In groups, discuss how much you think a person should exercise each week. What are the benefits? Are there any drawbacks? Give reasons for your views.
Addicted to exercise?
Dan is from Newcastle and this is his story.
I started running when I was 12. Gradually, I got really into it. I was running an hour a day, then two hours every day, then running morning and evening. The more I ran, the better I felt inside. I kept pushing myself to run faster and faster and faster.
But gradually I noticed I had fewer friends. They complained I was busy all the time – that running was taking over my life. I wouldn’t see anyone on the weekend, I would be running instead.
When I wasn’t invited to my best friend’s birthday party, I was really upset. She said to me, ‘There’s no point, you’ll be out running.’ That’s when I realised things had got out of control.
I still run every day, but only for an hour. Now I make sure that I spend time with my friends as well and I do other sports, like football at least once every two weeks. Running is good, but it shouldn’t take over your life.
1. In pairs, discuss why you think Dan became addicted to exercise.
a) At what point do you think Dan should have realised what was going on?
b) What advice would you give to somebody like Dan?
2. Doctors recommend half an hour’s exercise every day, to help you live longer. Imagine you know someone who doesn’t exercise at all, or someone who does more than 20 hours exercise each week.
a) What do you think the advantages and disadvantages are for each of these people?
b) What advice would you give them?
14.2 Exercise, sleep and your mental health
Exercising regularly will improve your fitness, your mood and your sleep.
Exercise keeps our heart, body and minds healthy healthy. There is evidence that exercise can help in depression, anxiety and even protect you from stress.
Most of us feel good when we are active. So – don’t worry about not doing enough – get started by building a bit more physical activity into your daily life now. Even a small change can make your heart healthier and make you feel happier.
Why does exercise make me feel better?
When you exercise it releases ‘feel good’ chemicals called endorphins in our brain. It also affects chemicals called ‘dopamine’ and ‘serotonin’ which are related to depression and anxiety.
Exercise can help brain cells to grow. In your body, regular exercise makes your heart, muscles and bones stronger and work better.
Activity can help you feel more in control, which helps when you are worried or stressed. You can even make new friends and have fun when you exercise with other people.
How much activity is enough for me?
Any activity is good. You should try to do some activity every day. Regular exercise for about 40
Fact check
Not sleeping enough contributes to an increase in fat because sleep regulates the hormones directly linked to appetite, willpower and mood.
Teenagers need between 8 and 10 hours’ sleep per night.
As you go through puberty, you need a good night’s sleep to help you grow. Sleep is as important as healthy eating and exercise to keeping you well. It affects how you are both physically and mentally.
minutes which gets you out of breath, five times a week, will have the best results on your body and mood.
Sarah’s Story
‘It’s been a tough time. We had family problems and then I had exams on top.
I started to get really stressed out, couldn’t relax or concentrate at school. Sometimes I found myself just bursting into tears.
I’ve been talking to a counsellor and starting running helped me to get some space for myself.
I’ve really improved in how far I can go, but mostly I run because I enjoy it. It’s given me my energy back. My sleep has got better and I don’t feel so depressed any more. A friend has asked if she can run with me sometimes. I’m kind of ready for that now.’ from ‘Exercise and mental health: for young people’, a factsheet produced by the Royal College of Psychiatrists
1. How did taking up running help Sarah overcome her stress?
2. What do you learn from the article about how exercise is good for your mental health?
If you aren’t getting enough sleep:
• It can make you moody and irritable and affect your relationships with your friends and family.
• Feeling tired all the time can make it difficult for you to concentrate and may affect your schoolwork.
• You are more likely to get ill if you are tired all the time.
Physical health and wellbeing
Teenagers’ sleep patterns
Research suggests that teenagers’ body clocks are set later than adults’ or children’s. In other words, they are programmed to stay up later and to get up later. That’s why they feel tired having to get up early for school, and it is important to establish a routine that gives them enough sleep.
Our sleep patterns are dictated by light and hormones. When light dims in the evening, we produce a chemical called melatonin, which tells us it’s time to sleep.
The problem is that modern life has disrupted this pattern. Bright room lighting, TVs, games consoles, mobiles, tablets and PCs can all emit light that stops us producing melatonin.
So, by staying up late playing games or texting, today’s teenagers are not helping themselves to get to sleep, to have enough sleep or to establish a regular sleep pattern.
(Adapted from an NHS article, ‘Sleep and tiredness’)
Read ‘Teenagers’ sleep patterns’, and ‘Top tips to help you get enough sleep’ above.
Discuss what you learn about sleep patterns.
1. Why is it important to get enough sleep?
2. Which of the top tips do you think is the most helpful?
Top tips to help you get enough sleep
• Establish a routine. Go to bed at the same time each night and get up at the same time each day.
• Don’t eat or drink anything immediately before you go to sleep. In particular, avoid caffeine and alcohol.
• Make sure you get out during the day and take some exercise. If you are physically tired from exercising you will get to sleep more easily.
• Switch off your mobile phone at least a quarter of an hour before you settle down. Talking to your friends will keep your brain active rather than relax you.
• Try to relax immediately before you go to sleep, for example by reading a magazine or a book, or by meditating.
• Avoid weekend lie-ins to catch up. They will just disrupt your body clock even more.
Keep a sleep diary for a week. Record the times you go to bed each night, whether you wake up during the night and for how long, what time you get up each day and how you feel each morning.
Show your sleep diary to a partner. Discuss what it tells you about your sleeping habits. Can you suggest what each of you could do to enable you to get enough sleep?
