Exercise and Well-Being: an Expansion of the Perceivable World

This thesis makes a case that we should look beyond the physiological benefits of exercise (such as improved physical health and function). Using phenomenological analysis, I will explore the lived benefits of exercise, which present exercise as having value on a basic perceptual level beyond improvement of one’s physiology. Because we are embodied beings who perceive the world in how we physically interact with it, exercise allows us to expand our perceivable world.

The lived benefits of exercise allow one to better understand and deal with the world, fulfil more desires, and decrease obstacles between intention and action. This thesis provides a set of reasons for us not to overlook our physical states when considering theories of well-being. I do not subscribe to, nor do I commit my thesis to, any particular theory of well-being.</strong></p><p>Instead, I propose that exercise is characteristically good for well-being because it allows us to increase our possibilities for interaction with the world and self-awareness, which allow us further possibilities to increase our well-being.</p>