Before you roll your eyes, hear me out.
Exercise truly is better than medications. Name one medicine you can take with the following benefits:
- Reduces depression
- Decreases the risk of falls
- Reduces the risk of early death
- Reduces the risk of several cancers including colon and breast cancer
- Decreases the risk of stroke, coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes and metabolic syndrome
- Decreases all cause mortality (meaning all reasons for death)
And the following “nasty side effects”
- Increases memory
- Increases energy and functional fitness
- Improves life expectancy, quality of life, sleep quality and bone density
- Increases chance for weight loss and maintenance
When you get a chance, take a look at the Exercise is Medicine fact sheet. Exercise is Medicine (EIM) was formed by the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) as an initiative with the purpose to “make the scientifically proven benefits of physical activity the standard in the U.S. healthcare system.” The vision is to assess every patient’s level of physical activity, determine if the patient is meeting the U.S. National Physical guidelines and provide patients with counseling to help meet the guidelines or refer them to community based resources.
Well now that you know this, why wait for the physician to tell you what to do? Are you active enough? Do you get the recommended amount of exercise? Did you know that there are guidelines for exercise?
The most current guidelines for physical activity are from 2008 and discuss the benefits of physical activity and what it means to be an active teen, adult and older adult.
The guidelines say for essential health benefits:
- Adults should do at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) a WEEK of moderate-intensity activity,
- Brisk walking, dancing, gardening, housework, etc.
- OR 75 minutes (1 hour and 15 minutes) a WEEK of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity,
- Running, walking up a hill, fast cycling, aerobics, swimming, etc
- OR an equivalent combination of moderate and vigorous intensity aerobic activity
- Kids should get at least 60 minutes of physical activity daily.
See the table from The World Health Organization below for examples of moderate and vigorous intensity exercise:
http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/physical_activity_intensity/en/
The GREAT news is that physical activity can be separated into intervals and do not need to be completed all at once, even short intervals count. It all adds up. A great book by Michelle Segar, No Sweat, discusses something called “Opportunities to Move” or “OTMs”. These opportunities all add up. She discusses how walking from the parking lot to the store is an opportunity as is taking several trips from the car to the house to bring your groceries inside. Stop thinking about exercise as work and consider it play or a reward for your body. This is a wonderful book that talks about our motivations. If you continually set yourself up in a vicious cycle, only to consider yourself a failure you need to read this. I have no financial interest in the book, I just think it is easy excellent reading that can help motivate us all and change our behaviors.