Module 2. Resources

🏋️ Health, Habits, and Sports Vocabulary

🟢 Level C1: Advanced

Focus: General wellness, fitness, motivation, and common health issues.

1. Phrasal Verbs (C1)

• Work out

  • Meaning: To perform physical exercise.

  • Example: I try to work out for at least an hour every morning before breakfast.

• Give up

  • Meaning: To stop trying or to stop doing a habit (often negative).

  • Example: She had to give up sugar completely after her diagnosis.

• Come down with

  • Meaning: To become sick with a minor illness.

  • Example: I feel a bit feverish; I think I might be coming down with the flu.

• Take up

  • Meaning: To begin a new hobby or activity (often a sport).

  • Example: After retiring, he took up marathon running to keep fit.

• Burn out

  • Meaning: To suffer from exhaustion and loss of motivation from excessive stress.

  • Example: She loved her job, but the demanding schedule eventually caused her to burn out.

    
    

2. Idioms (C1)

• As fit as a fiddle

  • Meaning: In excellent physical health.

  • Example: Despite being in his nineties, my grandfather is as fit as a fiddle.

• Get a new lease on life

  • Meaning: To have one's health or energy restored; to have a chance to live longer or with better quality.

  • Example: Following the successful surgery, he felt he had gotten a new lease on life.

• The ball is in your court

  • Meaning: It is up to you to make the next decision or step.

  • Example: The doctor has given you all the information; the ball is in your court to start a fitness regimen.

• Under the weather

  • Meaning: Slightly ill or unwell.

  • Example: I won't be coming to the gym today, I'm feeling a little under the weather.

• Bite the bullet

  • Meaning: To endure a painful or unpleasant situation that is unavoidable.

  • Example: You just need to bite the bullet and go to the dentist for that root canal.

    
    

3. Nouns (C1)

• Sedentary

  • Meaning: Characterized by or requiring a sitting posture and minimal physical activity.

  • Example: A sedentary lifestyle is a major contributor to cardiovascular disease.

• Endurance

  • Meaning: The ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity.

  • Example: Long-distance running requires immense physical endurance and mental toughness.

• Metabolism

  • Meaning: The chemical processes that occur within a living organism to maintain life.

  • Example: Eating spicy food is sometimes believed to boost your metabolism.

• Therapy

  • Meaning: Treatment intended to heal or relieve a disorder.

  • Example: After his knee injury, he spent six months in physical therapy.

• Supplement

  • Meaning: Something added to complete or enhance something else, especially a dietary component.

  • Example: Many athletes take protein supplements to aid muscle recovery.

    
    

4. Adjectives (C1)

• Nutritious

  • Meaning: Efficient as a food; containing substances that promote growth and health.

  • Example: Switching to whole grains and vegetables makes your diet much more nutritious.

• Chronic

  • Meaning: (Of an illness) persisting for a long time or constantly recurring.

  • Example: Managing chronic pain often requires a combination of medication and lifestyle changes.

• Holistic

  • Meaning: Characterized by the belief that the parts of something are intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole.

  • Example: She prefers a holistic approach to wellness, focusing on diet, mind, and body.

• Vigorous

  • Meaning: Strong, healthy, and full of energy; involving physical strength, effort, or energy.

  • Example: The warm-up included 20 minutes of vigorous cardio exercises.

• Rehabilitative

  • Meaning: Designed to restore health or normal life through training and therapy after imprisonment, addiction, or illness.

  • Example: The hospital runs a special rehabilitative program for stroke victims.

    
    

5. Verbs (C1)

• Cope

  • Meaning: To deal effectively with something difficult.

  • Example: Learning breathing exercises can help you cope with high levels of stress.

• Contract

  • Meaning: To catch or acquire an infectious disease.

  • Example: The disease spreads quickly, so it's easy to contract it from public surfaces.

• Maintain

  • Meaning: To keep (something) at an appropriate level or standard.

  • Example: It can be difficult to maintain a balanced diet while traveling constantly.

• Adhere

  • Meaning: To stick fast to (a substance or surface); to believe in and follow the practices of.

  • Example: Patients must strictly adhere to the prescribed dosage schedule.

• Outperform

  • Meaning: To perform better than.

  • Example: The team trained for months and managed to outperform all expectations at the national final.

    
    

🟣 Level C2: Proficiency

Focus: Specialized medical/biological terms, irreversible decline, and highly focused effort.

1. Phrasal Verbs (C2)

• Wear away

  • Meaning: To gradually erode or deteriorate through use or friction.

  • Example: The constant strain of running eventually wore away the cartilage in his knee joints.

• Stave off

  • Meaning: To avert or delay something bad or dangerous.

  • Example: Eating a diet rich in antioxidants may stave off age-related macular degeneration.

• Lapse into

  • Meaning: To pass gradually or smoothly into a different, often worse, state.

  • Example: The patient suddenly lapsed into unconsciousness following the fall.

• Suffer from

  • Meaning: To experience a particular condition or illness.

  • Example: Many elderly people suffer from insomnia, which affects their daytime energy.

• Wipe out

  • Meaning: To fall or crash, especially in a sport like surfing or skating.

  • Example: He hit a wave badly and completely wiped out, but luckily, he wasn't injured.

    
    

2. Idioms & Collocations (C2)

• Run its course

  • Meaning: To complete its natural development; to continue until it is over.

  • Example: The doctor said it was just a bad cold and would have to run its course.

• To go the extra mile

  • Meaning: To make a special extra effort; to do more than what is required.

  • Example: The physiotherapist goes the extra mile to ensure all her patients fully understand their exercises.

• In the pipeline

  • Meaning: Being planned or developed.

  • Example: A new vaccine for the emerging virus is currently in the pipeline at the research institute.

• A shot in the arm

  • Meaning: Something that gives a boost or encourages action.

  • Example: Winning the regional championship was a real shot in the arm for the team's morale.

• A clean bill of health

  • Meaning: A certification that a person or organization is healthy or functioning properly.

  • Example: After the routine check-up, the physician gave her a clean bill of health.

    
    

3. Nouns (C2)

• Myocardium

  • Meaning: The muscular tissue of the heart.

  • Example: Damage to the myocardium is a serious long-term effect of heart disease.

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• Pathogen

  • Meaning: A bacterium, virus, or other microorganism that can cause disease.

  • Example: Healthcare workers take precautions to prevent the spread of bloodborne pathogens.

• Doping

  • Meaning: The use of a prohibited substance or method in sports to illegally enhance performance.

  • Example: The athlete was stripped of his medal after testing positive for doping.

• Cessation

  • Meaning: The process of being brought to an end.

  • Example: Quitting smoking is often referred to as tobacco cessation.

• Morbidity

  • Meaning: The condition of being diseased; the rate of disease in a population.

  • Example: Researchers are studying the correlation between air quality and respiratory morbidity in urban areas.

    
    

4. Adjectives (C2)

• Debilitating

  • Meaning: Causing serious impairment of strength or energy.

  • Example: Rheumatoid arthritis can be a severe and debilitating condition.

• Asymptomatic

  • Meaning: (Of a person or disease) showing no symptoms.

  • Example: It is difficult to control the spread of an infection if the carriers are asymptomatic.

• Acute

  • Meaning: (Of a condition) severe or intense in degree; coming on suddenly.

  • Example: She was rushed to the emergency room with acute appendicitis.

• Prophylactic

  • Meaning: Intended to prevent disease.

  • Example: Vaccination is a common prophylactic measure against many viral illnesses.

• Efficacious

  • Meaning: (Typically of something inanimate or abstract) successful in producing a desired or intended result; effective.

  • Example: The new drug was highly efficacious in trials, showing a 95% success rate.

    
    

5. Verbs (C2)

• Mitigate

  • Meaning: To make less severe, serious, or painful.

  • Example: Stretching before and after exercise can help mitigate the risk of muscle injury.

• Atrophy

  • Meaning: (Of a body part or tissue) to waste away, typically due to the degeneration of cells, or from disease or neglect.

  • Example: Muscles can quickly atrophy when a limb is immobilized in a cast.

• Undermine

  • Meaning: To lessen the effectiveness, power, or ability of, especially gradually or insidiously.

  • Example: Constant consumption of junk food will eventually undermine your athletic training.

• Resuscitate

  • Meaning: To revive (someone) from unconsciousness or apparent death.

  • Example: Paramedics had to resuscitate the diver who had run out of oxygen.

• Triage

  • Meaning: To assign degrees of urgency to (wounded or ill patients) to decide the order of treatment.

  • Example: In a mass casualty event, medical personnel must quickly triage the victims.