EDITORIAL - PROMOTION OF PSYCHIPHYSICAL HEALTH THROUGH EDUCATIONAL-MOTOR METODOLOGY

Abstract

This volume of the journal is conceived as a broad overview on the phenomenological experience of the body mainly carried out through physical activity analysed in the different contexts: school, technology, home, in order to promote well-being. The need to reflect on the current condition arises precisely from the paradox highlighted by social science research that points, on the one hand, to an increasing development of technologies, especially assistive technologies, constituting a field of innovation full of promise especially for people with disabilities, while on the other hand an impoverishment of physical, social and emotional experience, due to the restrictions of containing the pandemic (Maestrutti, 2020). According to the National Institute of Health, physical activity is “any bodily movement that produces a substantial increase in energy expenditure sufficient to produce health benefits’’. It is therefore a link between exercise, understood as body experience, and psychophysical well-being in any condition, especially in relation to frailty. It is important to be aware of the factors that hinder participation or limit adherence to physical activity, not only because early drop-out rates are very high, but especially because this last long pandemic period has undermined the achievement of real psychophysical health benefits. Sensory experience of the body, which is normally multidimensional, was limited during the pandemic by reducing episodic opportunities and perceptual involvement (Rice et All, 2021). A flourishing literature displays a positive relationship between body functionality and positive body image, in particular, this combination is demonstrated by research published in the Disability and Health Journal, focusing on the experiences of people with disabilities and body differences. It examines the relationship between people’s body perceptions and the “socio-material” worlds and the “socio-virtual” worlds that are all too often a refuge for the projection of an inauthentic self. In their research, the authors (Na Xu, Yingyi Liu, 2020), built a bridge between the assessment of students’ body image and their state of well-being. Coping strategies played a central role and their specific function varied according to the type of disability. Everyday body activity is therefore a coping response, i.e. a constant effort of cognitive and behavioural change implemented to deal with specific internal and/or external demands (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984). It helps the individual to cope with and regulate the emotions accompanying a stressful stimulus, and can induce relaxation and distraction. It is a resource that enables individuals to evaluate themselves and their resources in dealing with a stressful event. It improves self-concept. Education and physical activity thus have a common denominator: the person and his or her emotional condition. From the research presented, new interested approaches emerge to explain the multiple interactions between the individual and the environment, paying attention to the influence of the environment, individual differences and social relationships.