Health and Exercise Science

This course aims to develop your understanding of the impacts of physical activity, diet and other lifestyle behaviours on people’s lives.

You’ll learn about how the human body responds to changes in physical activity and nutrition; how to positively influence people’s desire to live active, healthy lives; and the wider impacts of governmental policies and initiatives on health and wellbeing across populations.

The course’s interdisciplinary approach allows you to focus on three core themes:

Exercise Science: this provides you with a fundamental understanding of human function and its role in health and disease
Behavioural Science: through this, you’ll explore how we can better understand the psychological basis of human behaviour to promote health and treat and prevent disease
Public Health: this gives you the opportunity to investigate how we measure and determine societal priorities and improve health at a population level
Across your studies, you’ll apply your knowledge to contemporary health and exercise challenges. This will further your understanding of their relevance in current practice.

Some of the topics you’ll cover include:

exercise prescription
health technologies
nutrition
health inequalities
sports medicine
research methods
epidemiology
health and sport psychology
In Year 1, you’ll build on your knowledge of human physiology, biomechanics and psychology, and develop your understanding of the role of health behaviours on public health. You’ll also develop skills in research design and statistical analysis.

In Year 2, you'll gain a more in-depth understanding of exercise, health and nutrition at different stages of life at individual, community and population levels. You’ll explore how we communicate these health messages to different audiences.

In your final year, you’ll carry out an in-depth research project, while studying advanced units in areas such as nutrition, health technologies, sociology and exercise prescription.

This course will prepare you for a range of careers in areas such as public health, health promotion, health policy, healthcare, academic research, community sports, and exercise science.