The benefits of exercise
Here are several ways that moderate physical activity - the equivalent of walking at a 5km/h (3mph) pace - can help your health.
Cardiovascular health
Bone health
Psychological well-being
Muscle strength and function
10 reasons to move
Ask non-exercisers why don't get up and move, and you're likely to hear many similar stories. They don't have time. They're not in shape. They have too many aches and pains. And most tellingly, it's just too late to bother.
We hope we've convinced you that it's never too late to start exercising. But if your brain needs more evidence, here are ten major health improvements you're likely to see in as little as six month if you begin exercising regularly.
1 Improved memory and cognition
when you work out, whether it's walking, through a forest or lifting weights in a gym, you're doing more than just strengthening the muscles. You're also stimulating numerous areas in your brain and centeral nervous system, each of which controls one tiny portion of the movement. Plus, you're stimulating the release of a variety of chemicals, including human growth hormone (HGH). Yes, this is the same hormone given to children with growth problems; the same one that certain 'anti-ageing' doctors give to patients at their clinics, even though it's generally illegal to use it for that reason.
Among its youth-promoting benefits, HGH triggers a hormonal and biochemical cascade that releases brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a hormone that helps your brain to sprout new synapses, or connections between the neurons. One study of 59 healthy but sedentary people aged 60 t0 79 found that working out aerobically for six months (and we're not talking about marathon training) increased their brain volume, an improvement missing in a control group that didn't work out. It's probably why several studies find that regular physical activity significantly slows mental decline in people who already ahve Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia.
It's also why the more BDNF you have circulating in your brain, the greater your ability to learn and remember. The less BDNF, the less any learning sticks. Another benefit: high levels of BDNF control appetite and reduce the risk of obesity. They also stimulate the release of neurotransmitters in the brain, such as serotonin and dopamine, which control mood and play a role in depression. Scientists suspect that these exercise-induced BDNF boosts may partially explain the benefits of exercise on people with depression.
Upping your BDNF levels doesn't take much; for rats, a week of running on a wheel is enough. In people, a single high-intensity work-out triggers results. Of course, the increase is short term, which is why regular physical activity is so important.
In fact, some researchers suggest that what we think of as 'age-related' mental decline - such as memory loss or some slowing of our thinking - is actually 'revenge of the sit'. We've fallen away from our genetic tendency to be physically active nearly 100 percent of the day, and the resulting loss of BDNF and the nuero-transmitters it affects, including serotonin, contributes to our current high rates of obesity, forgetfulness, dementia and depression.
We're not suggesting that you buy yourself a human-sized hamster wheel or begin testing your blood levels of BDNF every time you jog round the block. Just focus on the visible benefits. Simply walking briskly for 45 minutes three days a week for six months can make a huge difference to the kind of mental acuity that allows you to be more attuned to the world around you.
So stick with an exercise programme for three months and see what kind of memory, learning and decision-making benefits you get.
2 Lower risk of Alzeheimer's disease
Exercise has other brain benefits beyond improved memory and reasoning. A long-term study that followed nearly 1,500 people for an average of 21 years found that just two sessions of physical leisure-time activity each week cut their risk of Alzheimer's in half. You can get benefits in an even shorter amount of time; excercising just three or more times a week during a six year period, one study found, reduced the risk of dementia by a third in older people compared with those who exercised less.
Some of this risk reduction is thought to be related to changes in the hippocampus, the part of the brain that controls higher than and the part first affected by the physical changes that lead to Alzheimer's. The bottom line is that physically active people have healthier hippocampuses. So do rats. When rats specially bred to develop Alzheimer's get steady exercise over several months, they show a remarkable reduction in the plaques and other brain changes that signal the development of the disease.
3 Fewer hot flushes
If you're on the younger end of the ageing spectrum and the menopause is near, you have yet another reason to lace up your trainers: a Spanish study at the University of Granada found that 3 hours of exercise a week could significantly reduce severe hot flushes and other menopasual symptoms, increasing a woman's overall quality of life. While half of the exercising group had severe symptoms when they began working out, after a year, just 37 percent did. Meanwhile, the percentage of women with severe menopasual symptoms in a control group that didn't exercise during that time rose from 58 to 67 percent.
The real-life fitness test
There are many scientific ways to measure fitness. But for most of us, the signs of being it are measured daily in what we can or can't do. For a person over the age of 45, you are probably in reasonable physical shape if you can:
4 Improved self-esteem
We talk a lot about self-esteem in our children, but what about our own? Self-esteem can play a major role in your health and quality of life. If you feel good about yourself, you're more likely to live a healthier lifestyle, to remain active, to interact socially and to participate in community activities. All this works in a kind of circular way to keep you healthier. And now we know that exercise also helps to maintain or improve self-esteem in older people.
For instance, one study measured changes in self-esteem in overweight women aged 60 and 75 who participated in either a stretching-and-toning exercise programme or a brisk walking regimen for six months. Both programmes enhanced the women's self-esteem, although the stretching-and-toning group showed greater improvement. All the women felt better about their body images and their strength. The message? You don't have to up your heart rate to achieve a better feeling via exercise.
5 Better stress management
There's a reason we counsel people to take a walk when they need to 'let off steam'. All that steam - or stress - triggers a chemical cascade designed to prepare you to run. Your heart beats faster and harder, your lungs take in more oxygen, your liver releases glucose to provide energy for the muscles, and your immune system revs up in preparation for injury.
If all you do is sit there, all that physiological energy has nowwhere to go, which damages key body systems over time. It suppresses the immune system; contributes to bone loss, muscle weakness and atherosclerosis; and increases insulin levels (you need more insulin to get all that glucose into cells), leading to higher levels of dangerous abdominal fat.
Enter exercise. Just 20 minutes jogging or stair climbing does more to soothe stress-induced anxiety than sitting still in a quiet room for 20 minutes. Not only does physical activity reduce anxiety, but being physically fit acts as a buffer against the damaging effects of stress, such as high blood pressure. We're not talking about a lifetime of physical activity, either: just six months. This can do more to reduce stress-related high blood pressure than changing diet.
6 Stronger immunity
Every noticed that people who work out a lot tend to get fewer colds and bouts of flu than those who avoid the gym like the plague? There's a reason for that. Every time you exercise, if puts stress on your entire body, stimulating the release of certain immune system hormone and chemicals. If you exercise too much, this has a negative effect, increasing inflammation and eventually suppressing the immune system. But if you exercise moderately on a regular basis, you're able to maintain a higher level of immune activity without triggering that suppression responsive.
Again, this does not require a lifetime of exercise. The response of your immune system to a single physical work-out is intense enough to supercharge the effects of a pneumonia or flu vaccine, particularly in older people, who tend to have weaker immune systems. Exercise regularly, and those vaccines are more likely to work. (It's a little-known fact that flu vaccines simply don't work in many, particularly older, people.) With or without a vaccine, physical activity reduces significantly the risk of developing an infection, studies find. When researchers examined the risk of hospitalisation for infections disease in 1,365 women aged 55 to 80, they found that the inactive ones were more than three times as likely to be hospitalised for infections.
Here are several ways that moderate physical activity - the equivalent of walking at a 5km/h (3mph) pace - can help your health.
Cardiovascular health
- Improves cholesterol levels
- Improves endurance
- Improves blood pressure
- Improves the ability of the heart to contract and expand
- Reduces abdominal fat
- Increases muscle mass
- Increases the number of calories you burn, even at rest
- Reduces LDL Cholesterol
- Reduces very low density cholesterol (vLDL), the type most likely to stick to the artery walls
- Reduces triglycerides
- Increases glucose tolerance and decreases insulin resistance
Bone health
- Slows decline in bone mineral density
- Increases total levels of bone-building calcium and nitrogen
Psychological well-being
- Improves perceived well-being and happiness
- Reduces levels of stress-related hormones
- Improves attention span
- Improves sleep
Muscle strength and function
- Reduces the risk of muscle or bone-related disability
- Improves strength and flexibility
- Reduces the risk of falls
- Improves balance
10 reasons to move
Ask non-exercisers why don't get up and move, and you're likely to hear many similar stories. They don't have time. They're not in shape. They have too many aches and pains. And most tellingly, it's just too late to bother.
We hope we've convinced you that it's never too late to start exercising. But if your brain needs more evidence, here are ten major health improvements you're likely to see in as little as six month if you begin exercising regularly.
1 Improved memory and cognition
when you work out, whether it's walking, through a forest or lifting weights in a gym, you're doing more than just strengthening the muscles. You're also stimulating numerous areas in your brain and centeral nervous system, each of which controls one tiny portion of the movement. Plus, you're stimulating the release of a variety of chemicals, including human growth hormone (HGH). Yes, this is the same hormone given to children with growth problems; the same one that certain 'anti-ageing' doctors give to patients at their clinics, even though it's generally illegal to use it for that reason.
Among its youth-promoting benefits, HGH triggers a hormonal and biochemical cascade that releases brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a hormone that helps your brain to sprout new synapses, or connections between the neurons. One study of 59 healthy but sedentary people aged 60 t0 79 found that working out aerobically for six months (and we're not talking about marathon training) increased their brain volume, an improvement missing in a control group that didn't work out. It's probably why several studies find that regular physical activity significantly slows mental decline in people who already ahve Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia.
It's also why the more BDNF you have circulating in your brain, the greater your ability to learn and remember. The less BDNF, the less any learning sticks. Another benefit: high levels of BDNF control appetite and reduce the risk of obesity. They also stimulate the release of neurotransmitters in the brain, such as serotonin and dopamine, which control mood and play a role in depression. Scientists suspect that these exercise-induced BDNF boosts may partially explain the benefits of exercise on people with depression.
Upping your BDNF levels doesn't take much; for rats, a week of running on a wheel is enough. In people, a single high-intensity work-out triggers results. Of course, the increase is short term, which is why regular physical activity is so important.
In fact, some researchers suggest that what we think of as 'age-related' mental decline - such as memory loss or some slowing of our thinking - is actually 'revenge of the sit'. We've fallen away from our genetic tendency to be physically active nearly 100 percent of the day, and the resulting loss of BDNF and the nuero-transmitters it affects, including serotonin, contributes to our current high rates of obesity, forgetfulness, dementia and depression.
We're not suggesting that you buy yourself a human-sized hamster wheel or begin testing your blood levels of BDNF every time you jog round the block. Just focus on the visible benefits. Simply walking briskly for 45 minutes three days a week for six months can make a huge difference to the kind of mental acuity that allows you to be more attuned to the world around you.
So stick with an exercise programme for three months and see what kind of memory, learning and decision-making benefits you get.
2 Lower risk of Alzeheimer's disease
Exercise has other brain benefits beyond improved memory and reasoning. A long-term study that followed nearly 1,500 people for an average of 21 years found that just two sessions of physical leisure-time activity each week cut their risk of Alzheimer's in half. You can get benefits in an even shorter amount of time; excercising just three or more times a week during a six year period, one study found, reduced the risk of dementia by a third in older people compared with those who exercised less.
Some of this risk reduction is thought to be related to changes in the hippocampus, the part of the brain that controls higher than and the part first affected by the physical changes that lead to Alzheimer's. The bottom line is that physically active people have healthier hippocampuses. So do rats. When rats specially bred to develop Alzheimer's get steady exercise over several months, they show a remarkable reduction in the plaques and other brain changes that signal the development of the disease.
3 Fewer hot flushes
If you're on the younger end of the ageing spectrum and the menopause is near, you have yet another reason to lace up your trainers: a Spanish study at the University of Granada found that 3 hours of exercise a week could significantly reduce severe hot flushes and other menopasual symptoms, increasing a woman's overall quality of life. While half of the exercising group had severe symptoms when they began working out, after a year, just 37 percent did. Meanwhile, the percentage of women with severe menopasual symptoms in a control group that didn't exercise during that time rose from 58 to 67 percent.
The real-life fitness test
There are many scientific ways to measure fitness. But for most of us, the signs of being it are measured daily in what we can or can't do. For a person over the age of 45, you are probably in reasonable physical shape if you can:
- Dance to a fast beat for more than 10 minutes without feeling winded.
- Walk for 30 minutes straight without getting tired.
- Feel energised 14 hours after you woke up (so if you got up at 7am, you should still be awake and active at 9pm).
- Carry large containers of milk or water in each hand without feeling any strain.
- Load your luggage into the storage rack above your plane or train seat without it being too difficult.
- Jump up and down ten times without causing your heart to race.
- Carry a large basket of clothing up or down two staircases without struggling.
- Trim your toenails without any discomfort from the bending.
- Easily sit down on the floor and then stand up.
- Raise your foot as high as your hip when kicking.
- Twist and look behind you without moving your feet.
4 Improved self-esteem
We talk a lot about self-esteem in our children, but what about our own? Self-esteem can play a major role in your health and quality of life. If you feel good about yourself, you're more likely to live a healthier lifestyle, to remain active, to interact socially and to participate in community activities. All this works in a kind of circular way to keep you healthier. And now we know that exercise also helps to maintain or improve self-esteem in older people.
For instance, one study measured changes in self-esteem in overweight women aged 60 and 75 who participated in either a stretching-and-toning exercise programme or a brisk walking regimen for six months. Both programmes enhanced the women's self-esteem, although the stretching-and-toning group showed greater improvement. All the women felt better about their body images and their strength. The message? You don't have to up your heart rate to achieve a better feeling via exercise.
5 Better stress management
There's a reason we counsel people to take a walk when they need to 'let off steam'. All that steam - or stress - triggers a chemical cascade designed to prepare you to run. Your heart beats faster and harder, your lungs take in more oxygen, your liver releases glucose to provide energy for the muscles, and your immune system revs up in preparation for injury.
If all you do is sit there, all that physiological energy has nowwhere to go, which damages key body systems over time. It suppresses the immune system; contributes to bone loss, muscle weakness and atherosclerosis; and increases insulin levels (you need more insulin to get all that glucose into cells), leading to higher levels of dangerous abdominal fat.
Enter exercise. Just 20 minutes jogging or stair climbing does more to soothe stress-induced anxiety than sitting still in a quiet room for 20 minutes. Not only does physical activity reduce anxiety, but being physically fit acts as a buffer against the damaging effects of stress, such as high blood pressure. We're not talking about a lifetime of physical activity, either: just six months. This can do more to reduce stress-related high blood pressure than changing diet.
6 Stronger immunity
Every noticed that people who work out a lot tend to get fewer colds and bouts of flu than those who avoid the gym like the plague? There's a reason for that. Every time you exercise, if puts stress on your entire body, stimulating the release of certain immune system hormone and chemicals. If you exercise too much, this has a negative effect, increasing inflammation and eventually suppressing the immune system. But if you exercise moderately on a regular basis, you're able to maintain a higher level of immune activity without triggering that suppression responsive.
Again, this does not require a lifetime of exercise. The response of your immune system to a single physical work-out is intense enough to supercharge the effects of a pneumonia or flu vaccine, particularly in older people, who tend to have weaker immune systems. Exercise regularly, and those vaccines are more likely to work. (It's a little-known fact that flu vaccines simply don't work in many, particularly older, people.) With or without a vaccine, physical activity reduces significantly the risk of developing an infection, studies find. When researchers examined the risk of hospitalisation for infections disease in 1,365 women aged 55 to 80, they found that the inactive ones were more than three times as likely to be hospitalised for infections.
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