The effects of being in good physical health are proving more convincingly to expand beyond the obvious physiological benefits. Research has shown that a higher level of physical fitness can improve a person's mood, psychophysiological responses to stress, improve self-esteem, and increase psychomotor speed (Blumenthal & Madden, 1988). There is increasing evidence to suggest that physical fitness level may be associated with certain aspects of cognitive functioning as well. Weingarten (1973) found that after a 12 week exercise program college students completing a battery of mental tests showed a significant correlation between increased physical fitness and improvement on tests in the areas of verbal comprehension, visual pursuit, verbal reasoning and symbolic reasoning. Another study in which participants completed a multiplication task immediately following 12 minutes of vigorous exercise indicated that individuals who are more physically fit may be better able to "resist the......
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