Exercise should be part of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, says reigning Mr SA Habib Noorbhai. He refers, of course, to the late American psychologist Abraham Maslow, one of the founders of humanistic psychology. More than 70 years ago, in his paper, A Theory of Human Motivation, Maslow developed his theory of a hierarchy of needs driving all humans. According to him, once people meet their most basic needs, they move through the rest in a specific order. Psychologists have since depicted those needs as a pyramid with five tiers. The base is the most elemental of human needs: food, water, warmth and rest, with sex nestling in between. Above those is the need for safety and security. Self-fulfilment Thereafter, Maslow said, we move through psychological needs of "belongingness and love" to "esteem needs" for prestige and accomplishment. At the apex is self-fulfilment or self-actualisation. That’s all about achieving if not the perfection of full potential, then as close to it as is poss...

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