Get physically active! Makes a difference. Do anything you can for at least 10 minutes. Never too late to get started. Avoid years of disability and early death.

Start with a short walk once or twice a week. Even 10 minutes to an hour each week lowers risk of death from any cause by 18%. That’s a gain of almost 2 years of health free from disability and two additional years of life.

Full recovery from T2DM gives an additional 5 years of health free from disability plus an additional 5 years of life. Also saves thousands of dollars in healthcare expenses.

To learn more about programs Herd Healthcare offers, our website is:
www.herdhealthcare.com

Physical Activity For Good Health

A regular routine of physical activity lengthens life and reduces the risk for chronic illness. That’s what we mean when we say, “Exercise is good for your health.” Nothing very confusing about that.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization recommend that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity, or an equivalent combination each week.

At first glance, 30 minutes of moderate exercise 5 days a week seems like a lot of time to be spent on exercise. Also, 15 minutes of vigorous exercise seems more strenuous than reasonable to attempt. The puzzle is how to meet standards recommended.

The answer is to mix vigorous exercise with moderate exercise as brief High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). The combination is surprisingly effective! The result is a good workout that improves physical fitness almost as much as continuous vigorous exercise. That’s a real saving of time. Spending 15 minutes at HIIT on 5 days a week is almost as effective as 75 minutes per week of continuous vigorous exercise!HIIT is a routine with brief bursts of maximal effort followed by longer periods of recovery at lesser effort. The result combines the benefits of aerobic exercise with strength training that is more effective than vigorous aerobic training alone.

The amount of physical activity by adults in this country is readily measured. More than half of all adults do not complete recommended amounts of exercise. About 25% of us do no exercise at all!

The quality of health is most easily measured by life expectancy. Length of life in this country is 4 years less than other comparable countries. Not only that, it’s been falling every year since 2016.

Good health means much more than life expectancy. Just harder to measure. The Scientific Report from the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee itemizes the features of life quality while living.

The 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines demonstrates that, in addition to disease prevention benefits, regular physical activity provides a variety of benefits that help individuals sleep better, feel better, and perform daily tasks more easily.

•Quality of sleep. Regular physical activity increases the time in deep sleep and reduces daytime sleepiness.

•Cognitive function. Regular physical activity improves ability to plan, organize, self-monitor, initiate tasks and control emotions.

•Mental health. Regular physical activity reduces depressive symptoms and reduces the risk of clinical depression.

•Mood and morale. Regular physical activity reduces symptoms of anxiety. Both acute feelings of anxiety and chronic levels lasting days or weeks.

•Physical function. Regular physical activity increases ability to conduct daily life with energy and without fatigue.

Some benefits happen immediately. Day by day, vigorous physical activity reduces blood pressure, improves insulin sensitivity, improves sleep, improves cognition and reduces symptoms of anxiety.

Maintenance of good health delays chronic disability. Regular physical activity reduces obesity, dementia, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Low Levels Of Physical Activity Make A Difference

A natural reaction to recommended guidelines is, “I simply can’t do that.” There are two responses to that.

•Just get started. It gets easier really fast.

•Small amounts of exercise produce really surprising benefits.

Many studies have demonstrated that low levels of exercise lengthen life expectancy.

European and US studies of mortality in men and women demonstrated the benefits. Studies included many different physical activities at many different levels of intensity, duration and frequency.

The European study included 14,599 men and women assessed by questionnaires during baseline from 1993 to 1997. Questionnaires were repeated with several repeat questionnaires up to 2016.

Intensity of physical activity was assessed in units of energy expenditure according to maximal heart rate, duration and frequency. Habitual dietary activity also was assessed using food frequency questionnaires.

Examples of physical activity included light gardening, strolling, heavy cleaning or repair work and brisk walking. These were standardized in relation to moderate exercise of walking 3.5 to 4 miles per hour for a total of 150 minutes per week.

Results demonstrated that individuals with and without chronic illnesses who reported physical activity equivalent to or greater than moderate intensity exerted 150 minutes per week reduced mortality rates by -20% to -40%.

A national study of mortality in US adults demonstrated the benefits of even low amounts.

The US study included 88,140 men and women 40 to 85 years of age. Their physical activity was sampled repeatedly by questionnaires at follow-ups during 9 years. Subsequent deaths were determined from National Death Index records.

Amounts of physical activity during leisure time were divided into 8 categories according to minutes of standardized intensity per week. They included 0, 10-59, 60-149, 150-299, 300-449, 450-799, 800-1499 and > 1,500 minutes per week.

Leisure time physical activity from low levels to extremely high amounts, reduced mortality compared to inactive individuals.

•10-59 min/week: -18%            
•60-149 min/week: -22%
•150-299 min/week: -31%
•300-449 min/week: -31%
•450-799 min/week: -42%

As shown in the Figure, the benefits from low to high levels of physical activity ranged from 2 to 4 years of life expectancy. Not shown are years of good health without disability. An additional benefit from physical activity.

Vigorous Exercise Extends Life Expectancy Still More

Walking, jogging and running are among the most popular sports in the US. The prime objectives are the satisfaction and pleasure from physical fitness. An associated benefit is extended years of good health and longer life.

A review of running associated with longer life recently has been reported. The investigators assembled results obtained from a population of 232,149 men and women in several different countries.

Results showed that running reduced all-cause mortality by -27%, reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease by -30% and reduced deaths from cancer by -23%.

In addition, results showed intensity, duration and frequency had little proportional effect. Just the exercise routine of regular running conferred the majority of benefit. Translated into additional years of life expectancy, running extends life approximately 3 years compared to inactive individuals.

Summary

Physical activity improves the quality of health. Physical fitness includes more than tolerance for heavy work and exercise. It includes quality of sleep, cognitive function, mental health, mood and morale as well as improved functional capacity for work and exercise.

A whole variety of physical activities can improve physical fitness. Not just walking, running and lifting weights. Housework, gardening, sports, going up and down stairs. Anything that takes 10 minutes a few times during the week improves physical fitness.

Keeping physically active or starting and becoming more active improves health at any age.

Benefits are the same with or without chronic illness. Physical activity is most valuable of all for people who have cancer, or musculoskeletal disease, or cardiovascular disease, or diabetes or obesity.

Most important of all is establishing a regular routine of physical activity you enjoy and makes you feel good!

Let us help you establish a routine of physical activity that will improve your physical fitness and recover the strength and function of normal, healthy life.

We are pleased to share our blog articles with you, and we are always interested to hear from our readers. Our website address is: www.herdhealthcare.com

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