Once again exercise has been in the spotlight with a recent Time cover story. The sad stats are that more than 80 million Americans over the age of 6 get zero exercise. Only 20% get the 150 minutes per week of recommended resistance and cardio exercise. The obvious results are ill health, a lot of suffering and incalculable medical costs.
The
downsides of no or very little exercise are well researched and beyond dispute:
“People with low levels of physical activity are at a higher risk for many different kinds of cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and early death by any cause. That’s at the end of life. Long before that, inactivity can worsen arthritis symptoms, increase lower-back pain and lead to depression and anxiety – not to mention cause a sallow complexion.”
In recent
years the evidence for exercise benefits has been so significant and so precise
that many in the field want general practitioners to take note. In the near future doctors will not only be
prescribing drugs, but fewer drugs along with a specific exercise plan to help
remedy the condition. Marcas Bamman, director
of the Center for Exercise Medicine at the University of Alabama, comments: “If
you think of exercise as a true form of medicine, which it is, it’s not good
enough to just look at a patient and say ‘You need to do more exercise’.”
Dr. Robert
Sallis, a family physician and head of sports medicine at California’s Kaiser
Permanente Fontana Medical Center, has been doing this since the 1990’s:
“It really
worked amazingly, particularly in my very sickest patients. If I could get them
to do it on a regular basis – even just walking, anything that got their heart
rate up a bit – I would see dramatic improvements in their chronic disease, not
to mention all of these other things like depression, anxiety, mood and energy
levels.” A leading fitness researcher recently commented that if the amazing
benefits of exercise could be put into a pill, “it would likely be the most
valuable pharmaceutical ever developed.”
The really
good news is that for really busy people, fitness does not have to take a great
deal of time:
“The benefits of brief high intensity interval training have been shown
time and again to be equal or better than
longer steady state aerobic training. For busy people without much time for
workouts, several short bursts of intense sprints (running or cycling), each
followed by brief respites, are more effective than the conventional wisdom of
longer is better.” http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2013/12/fitness-exercise.html
There is
also a growing body of evidence that suggests rigorous exercise appears to
decelerate aging at the cellular level. It also benefits the skin: “Exercise
revs up blood flow to the skin, delivering nutrients to the epidermis and
helping wounds heal faster.”
Exercise has
also been found to be regenerative for the human brain. “Scientists don’t know
exactly why exercise changes the function and structure of the brain for the
better, but it’s an area of active research. So far, they’ve found that
exercise improves blood flow to the brain, feeding the growth of new blood vessels and even new brain cells, courtesy of
the protein BDNF, short for brain-derived neurotrophic factor. BDNF triggers
the growth of new neurons and helps repair and protect brain cells from
degeneration.”
There is
still some antiquated thinking mulling around that people with heart conditions
or Type 2 diabetes should refrain from all exertion. Even working out while
pregnant was frowned upon for decades. Things are changing: “Now scientists
know that far more people can and should exercise. A recent analysis of more
than 300 clinical trials discovered that for people recovering from a stroke,
for instance, exercise was even more effective at helping them rehabilitate.”
Older people
who are willing to put a little more muscle into their workouts will gleefully notice
remarkable paybacks:
“Until now,
all the recommendations for increasing bone density have included
low-repetition high-weights type of training, says Jinger Gottschall, associate
professor of kinesiology at Penn State University. ‘But this just isn’t
feasible for a lot of people. You can’t picture your grandma going in and doing
that.’ Luckily for Grandma, Gottschall’s team found that lifting lighter
weights for more reps improves bone density in key parts of the body, making it
a good alternative to heavy lifting.”
Primary
Source
Mandy Oaklander, “The New Science of Exercise”, Time, September 12, 2016
Additional Resources
The Hard Science on Fitness and the Elderly …..….. http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2016/08/the-hard-science-on-fitness-and-elderly.html
Get Rid of That Slouched Posture ….. …….. http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2015/11/get-rid-of-that-slouched-posture.html
Surprising Way To Alleviate or Delay Parkinson’s Disease …..…… http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2015/03/surprising-way-to-alleviate-.html
Dementia: Researchers Frustrated – Helpful Treatment Widely Ignored ……. http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2014/07/dementia-researchers-frustrated.html
Natural High: The Effects of Exercise On Depression ……. http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2014/02/exercise-depression.html
Alleviate 7 Common Health Problems With Fitness …. .... http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2013/06/alleviate-7-common-health-problems-with.html
Fitness Fantasy: The Hard Truth About Those Hollywood Hard Bodies ………… http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2014/02/fitness-fantasy-hard-truth-about-those.html
Undisputed Secret to the Healthy Senior Brain …………. http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2012/10/undisputed-secret-to-healthy-senior.html
The Wonder Drug That Never Fails …… …. http://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2012/09/thewonder-drug-that-never-fails-theres.html
Photos:
Jerry De Luca is a Christian freelance writer who loves perusing dozens of interesting and informative publications. When he finds any useful info he summarizes it, taking the main points, and creates a (hopefully) helpful blog post.
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