The best medicine is physical activity, and dedicated exercise is one of the best forms of preventative medicine known. It helps to prevent cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and even lowers your risk of developing cancer. The benefits aren’t confined to dedicated gym rats either. Even light to moderate exercise makes a noticeable difference for your health. Physical activity is important because it is a simple, free, and effective way to improve your health.
In this excerpt from the book Real Cause, Real Cure by Jacob Teitelbaum, MD and Bill Gottlieb, CHC the authors explain how inactivity is the worst disease of all, and how even moderate physical activity can keep you healthy and resistant to illnesses of all types.
Inactivity
We’re hardly the first to make the following point, but it’s a point worth making again (and again): If exercise were a pill, everyone would take it. That’s because exercise can effectively help prevent or treat just about every health problem out there. Get ready for a long list.
•Aging: Keeps you youthful all your life. Needless to say, death is usually the result of aging. In a 20-year study involving more than 5,000 older men, the fittest had a 38 percent lower risk of dying from any cause during the study, reported researchers in the journal Circulation. And men who weren’t fit but became fit lowered their risk by 35 percent. Exercise (along with sex and sleep) stimulates the production of human growth hormone (HGH), the so-called fountain of-youth hormone that melts fat, builds muscle, and helps you feel and look younger.
•Alzheimer’s disease: Reduces risk by one-third. Ten minutes of walking a day is linked to a 32 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s, reported researchers from the University of Washington. Research also shows that regular exercise sharpened the minds of seniors with mild cognitive impairment, the mental decline that precedes Alzheimer’s. No drug can do that!
•Arthritis: Builds muscle that makes a difference. Women with the strongest thighs had a 30 percent lower risk of developing osteoarthritis of the knee (the most common kind), reported researchers from the University of Iowa.
•Asthma: Soothes symptoms. In a study published in the Journal of Asthma, an international team of researchers found that light exercise, three times a week, reduced asthma episodes by 56 percent. In another study in the journal Chest, three months of regular exercise decreased symptoms dramatically in 50 people with asthma and lessened anxiety and depression.
•Cancer: Prevents and protects. A large and growing body of scientific research shows that exercise can help prevent cancer and cancer recurrence and ease the side effects of cancer treatment. For example, studies show regular exercise can lower the risk of…
- Prostate cancer by 35 percent
- Endometrial cancer by 23 percent
- Breast cancer by 16 percent
- The recurrence of breast cancer by 56 percent
- Dying from colon cancer (if you have it) by 53 percent
- Dying from any cancer (if you have it) by 53 percent
•Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS): Gives more energy. In a review of seven studies on CFS and exercise, European researchers found that regular exercise reduced fatigue, and improved sleep, daily physical functioning, and general health. (Energy production is limited when you have this condition, so exercising beyond what is comfortable is counterproductive.)
•Depression: Works as an antidepressant. In a review of dozens of studies, involving nearly 50,000 people, researchers found that exercise reduced levels of depression by more than 50 percent. In one study, walking worked just as well as an antidepressant drug in relieving depression, according to researchers in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University.
•Diabetes: Radically reduces risk. Regular exercise lowers your risk of developing diabetes by up to 53 percent, studies show. And exercise can be as effective as any drug in regulating the high blood sugar levels of diabetes.
•Falls: Helps achieve balance. Every year, more than 30 percent of people age 65 and over fall—with one in 10 seriously injured and nearly 13,000 killed. Research shows that many different types of regular exercise—including walking, dancing, strength training, and tai chi—can help seniors stay on their feet.
•Fibromyalgia: Relieves pain. Regular water exercise decreased pain and improved health in a group of 30 women with fibromyalgia, reported an international team of researchers in the journal Rheumatology. And in a review of all the studies on fibromyalgia and water exercise, Canadian researchers found it not only decreased pain, but also reduced stiffness, built strength, and improved physical functioning. (Exercise is not a solution for this illness. But if you have fibromyalgia, it’s important to do as much as you’re able to maintain your conditioning. The key words here are “as you’re able.” Don’t overdo!)
•Gallstones: Cuts the risk of surgery. Researchers from China analyzed data from 16 studies on exercise and gallstone disease and found that regular exercise decreased risk by over 20 percent. In a study of more than 60,000 women, those who regularly participated in “recreational physical activity” (such as walking or bicycling) were 31 percent less likely to have gallstone surgery compared with sedentary women, reported researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in the New England Journal of Medicine. And in a study of more than 45,000 men, those who watched television for more than 40 hours a week had a three-times-higher risk of painful gallbladder attacks compared with men watching TV less than six hours a week. “Thirty-four percent of symptomatic gallstone disease in men could be prevented by increasing exercise to 30 minutes, five times a week,” concluded the researchers in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
•Heart disease: Prevents the first attack…or the second. Regular exercise reduces the risk of having a heart attack by 27 percent, reported Italian researchers in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention & Rehabilitation. And regular exercise after a heart attack reduces the risk of dying by 31 percent, concluded a study in the medical journal BMJ.
•High blood pressure: Provides the perfect prescription. In people with high blood pressure, exercise (either walking on a treadmill or resistance training) reduced blood pressure for up to seven hours after the exercise session, reported Brazilian researchers in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. These types of exercises would be a helpful “prescription” for anyone with high blood pressure, they concluded. (I recommend a walk in the sunshine, as you’ll read about on page 53 of this chapter. Sunshine helps the body make vitamin D, which also helps lower blood pressure.)
•Immune problems: Turns your natural killer cells loose. In research on exercise and immunity, led by David Nieman, PhD, director of the Human Performance Lab at the North Carolina Research Campus and author of Exercise Testing and Prescription, scientists studied more than 1,000 people during the fall and winter. They found that those who exercised a total of 150 minutes a week (such as five 30-minute walks) had 43 percent fewer colds and bouts of the flu than inactive people. “This difference is greater in magnitude than could be achieved with any drug,” Dr. Nieman told us. The reason it works: Exercise boosts circulating levels of virus-killing immune cells, such as natural killer cells. But, he said, the effect lasts only a few hours, which is why you have to exercise regularly to supercharge your immune system.
•Insomnia: Helps you fall asleep faster. Researchers from Boston University analyzed data from 66 studies on exercise and sleep—and found that exercise helped people fall asleep faster, improved total sleep time, and led to more restful sleep.
•Menopausal symptoms: Cools hot flashes. Women who had greater levels of physical activity had fewer menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes, reported researchers from Pennsylvania State University in the journal Maturitas. In another study, from researchers at Harvard University and several other institutions and published in the journal Menopause, menopausal women who exercised regularly had fewer problems with sleep and were less depressed.
•Multiple sclerosis: Improves quality of life. In one study, Swiss researchers at the University of Basel looked at 46 people with multiple sclerosis (an autoimmune disease that gradually destroys the protective covering of nerves, causing a range of physical, mental, and emotional problems). Those who exercised regularly for three weeks had deeper sleep, less depression, less fatigue, and less numbness and tingling (paresthesia).
•Osteoporosis: Strengthens bones. “Exercise is effective in preserving bone mass, preventing fractures, and improving the quality of life in patients with osteoporosis,” reported Japanese doctors who reviewed decades of research on exercise and osteoporosis.
•Overweight: Keeps pounds off. It’s relatively easy to lose weight—most veteran dieters have done it many times. But only about five percent of people who shed pounds keep them off for good. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh studied 201 overweight women who had lost 10 percent of their total body weight. They found that those who successfully kept it off after two years were those who exercised the most (4.5 hours per week). And in a scientific paper, titled Is Regular Exercise an Effective Strategy for Weight Loss Maintenance?, researchers from the University of Colorado point out that studies show “a program of regular exercise” is a “key characteristic of those who have been successful with weight loss maintenance.”
•Stress: Shields you from the damage. “People with high exercise levels exhibit less health problems when they encounter stress,” concluded a team of Swiss researchers who reviewed 30 years of research on stress and health. And in a study by an international team of researchers, exercise decreased anxiety in people with “stress-related disorders.”
•Stroke: Protects your brain. Brisk walking for 30 minutes, 6 days a week, reduces the risk of stroke by 30 percent, reported researchers from Harvard Medical School in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
If everyone engaged in regular moderate physical activity, there would be 250,000 fewer deaths every year in America, wrote researchers from the Mayo Clinic and several other institutions in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings. They urged doctors to prescribe physical activity to inactive people.
Why Workouts Work
There’s a simple explanation for why inactivity is a real cause and exercise is a real cure: Our bodies were made to move!
Our genes are an inheritance from the Late Paleolithic period of 10,000 years ago, when we were hunter-gatherers—and really, really active. We walked (or fled) everywhere, and our “sedentary” hours were confined to mealtime and bedtime. This is what scientists call our genotype: the instructions in our genetic code, the biological command that says, “Take a hike—a long hike!”
What happens when you don’t shape up for General Gene? He assigns you to the hospital! In other words, you’re likely to end up as one of the more than 130 million Americans with a chronic condition such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, or cancer, conditions that account for more than 75 percent of all health costs in the United States. These chronic illnesses have many causes, but one of the big ones is chronic inactivity.
Well, desks and TVs (and cars and endless other “you-won’t-have-to-lift-a-finger” conveniences) are permanent facts of modern life. But that doesn’t mean you can’t give your genes a big lift.
“Daily physical activity normalizes gene expression toward patterns established to maintain survival in the Late Paleolithic era,” wrote Manu Chakravarthy, MD, PhD, of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, in the Journal of Physiology.
To paraphrase: Use it or lose it! But to do that, you probably have to start exercising regularly. Because if you’re anything like the typical American, you’re not exercising now. For more ways to fix root causes of common health problems, purchase Real Cause, Real Cure from Bottomlineinc.com.
