The other aspect of physical health that is often lacking is physical exercise to increase cardiovascular fitness, immune system response, elimination, energy, and mental clarity.
Exercise causes us to perspire and hence eliminate toxins and chemicals through our skin. It is also common for someone who is sick or toxic to have bad body odor, because he or she is eliminating toxins and chemicals through the skin. The average American gets little to no proper exercise outside of what they might do on their jobs. Many people are too tired before the day starts to get up and exercise before work, or they are too mentally and physically drained at the end of the day to go out and exercise. Our poor diets, chemical and toxic buildup, poor sleep (either quantity or quality), and stressful lives all lead to fatigue, which replaces our desire to exercise with a desire to just go to bed.
Exercise was much easier before everything became automatic. People used to walk more, ride bikes more, do more manual labor. Now we drive everywhere and do little physical work, but plenty of mentally-draining work.
Nearly four out of five adults get little or no exercise even though research has clearly demonstrated its positive effects on health. Also, studies have shown that if you do not get any exercise, your chances of having a heart attack more than triple.³ In a study at the University of North Carolina, it was determined that an inactive person’s risk of heart disease is the same as that of someone who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day.⁴
Another interesting study done among Harvard alumni tracked 16,936 graduates and found that those who burned 2,000 or more calories a week in exercise had a 28 percent lower death rate. Dr. Ralph Paffenberger stated in the study that for every hour you walk, you can add an hour to your life.⁵
Another exciting study, done on 4,500 people between the ages of 40 and 85 at Brown University by Vincent Mor, Ph.D., showed that those who remained moderately active by only walking regularly gained a 25-year advantage in performance over those who retired to a sedentary life.⁶
This and other research reports have shown that the greatest benefit from exercise was seen in the change from no exercise to moderate exercise — 30 minutes of walking daily, or three one-hour sessions per week. The health benefit from moderate to intense exercise was minimal. In fact it showed more chances of sudden cardiac disease — i.e., heart attacks — due to the level of exercise intensity combined with possible blockage of the coronary arteries. Remember, if we exercise very intensely but pay no attention to our diet, we are still at risk of cardiovascular disease. This was evidenced in runner Jim Fixx, who averaged ten miles of running per day but claimed that diet did not play as great a factor in health if one was exercising intensely. He died of a sudden heart attack in his 50s. So remember, a healthy diet combined with moderate exercise, such as walking daily or rebounding at a brisk pace progressively increasing to 30 minutes, will have great health benefits.
Another study by Dr. Steve Blair and his colleagues at the Institute for Aerobics Research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, showed how important moderate exercise really is. Dr. Blair tested 10,224 men and 3,120 women who appeared to be in good health. They participated in a treadmill test. Based on their levels of fitness, the participants were divided into five groups ranging from least fit (Group 1) to most fit (Group 5.) These people were tracked to determine the relationship between their level of physical fitness and their death rates. After eight years, the least fit group had a death rate more than three times greater than the most fit group. More important, though, was the finding that most of the benefits of physical fitness came between Group 1 and Group 2, especially in men. In other words, walking 30 minutes per day (the activity level of Group 2) reduced premature death almost as much as running 30 to 40 miles per week (the activity of Group 5.) Further, in Groups 2 through 5, deaths were lower from all causes, including heart disease and cancer, when compared with the sedentary people in Group 1.⁷
Similar results were found in 12,138 middle-aged men who participated in the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial. The investigators, directed by Dr. Arthur Leon, divided these men into three groups based on level of exercise. During seven years of follow-up, those who exercised moderately had one-third fewer deaths from all causes (including heart disease), compared to those who were sedentary. Moderate exercise was defined as at least 30 minutes a day of light or moderate intensity activities such as walking, gardening, or home repairs. Mortality rates of those with higher levels of exercise were not significantly different from those with moderate levels of exercise.⁸

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 26th, 2006 at 5:18 am and is filed under Article. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.