FAQs About Insurance
How can exercise help me live a healthy lifestyle?
One way to reduce your risk of getting a chronic disease or illness is simple, takes little time, and is totally up to you. It is how you spend your free time. Doctors have known this fact for a long time, but now scientists can actually prove it. The results are in and we now know without a shred of doubt that lack of physical activity is a risk factor for many diseases and conditions, including cardiovascular disease, several common cancers, diabetes and osteoporosis.
In just one study, United States researchers who followed 44,454 men from 1986 to 1998 found that running, rowing and weight training are related to reduced risk of heart disease. The study found, says the researchers from Harvard School of Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, that there is a direct association between walking activity and overall exercise intensity and the incidence of chronic heart disease.
So armed with that information, are we doing anything about it? Not unless the situation has drastically changed in the last two years. In 2002, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report that showed about 1 in 5 American adults engaged in a high level of overall physical activity, including both activity at work and during leisure time. At the other end of the spectrum, about 1 in 4 American adults engaged in little or no regular physical activity.
The report also asked the question about physical activity in our leisure-time. When work is excluded from physical activity, then the figures dramatically drop. In fact, 7 in 10 Americans were not regularly active during their leisure-time. So, if we take out running for the bus in the morning or chasing the kids to take out the trash, most of us are too laid back to be healthy.
The good news, according to research at the Stanford University School of Medicine, is that it's never too late to start. Even people who start exercising later in life appear to gain many of the same health benefits as people who've exercised their whole lives.
The American Cancer Society also tells us that physical activity throughout life can even help protect against some cancers. For breast and prostate cancer, exercise may help by regulating hormone levels. For colon cancer, physical activity speeds up the digestive process, shortening the exposure of the bowel lining to harmful substances. Exercise also helps reduce cancer risk by helping people maintain a healthy weight.
So what are you waiting for? Take a step in the right direction. Go for a walk. Join a health club. Get up off the couch and do something. It just may lengthen and improve the quality of your life.
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