Physiological Basis of Exercise as Medicine

Catalog description

KINES 455 reviews the physiological basis of exercise for enhancing health and protecting against chronic diseases. This course is designed for students interested in developing a deeper understanding of the physiological mechanisms behind exercise as medicine. Course content will consist of a mixture of selected book chapters as well as contemporary review and primary research articles. This course begins with an overview of the current exercise deficiency problem, including the societal, behavioral, and economic changes of the past century which have contributed to the modern day epidemic of chronic inactivity-related disease. After developing an appreciation for the scope of these problems, students will be introduced to the "tools" needed to critically evaluate the association between exercise and/or inactivity on health and the mechanisms by which these associations may occur, including: basic principles of epidemiology, searching/reviewing scientific literature, and experimental design. The remainder of the course will be focused on how exercise/physical activity modifies molecular/tissue-level and integrative physiological function, and describes the extent to which these modifications confer either preventative or therapeutic benefit. Students will also use the "tools" that they learned at the beginning of the semester to demonstrate and share knowledge with others; integration of this information may include a thorough analysis of a chronic condition including the pathophysiology, strength of evidence for exercise is medicine, and physiological actions of exercise in prevention or treatment. Students may also be given the opportunity to translate their knowledge from this course into educational materials (e.g., flyers, pamphlets, screensavers, fitness center displays, social media, etc) for use during "Exercise is Medicine" week.