Does Exercise Really Keep Us Healthy?

Ted_Hutchinson

Does Exercise Really Keep Us Healthy? IN BRIEF:
While exercise can boost mood, its health benefits have been oversold.
Moderate exercise can reduce the risk of diabetes in people at risk.
Exercise may reduce the risk of heart disease and breast and colon cancers.
Though the evidence is mixed, exercise may also provide benefits for people with osteoporosis.
Physical activity alone will not lead to sustained weight loss or reduce blood pressure or cholesterol.

treliac

An ongoing debate with mixed opinions in the medical world.

Seems to me, though, that moderate exercise keeps me flexible and reasonably supple. Strengthens my joints and adds to my stamina as well as my feeling of wellbeing. That's quite a benefit in itself.

On its own, exercise isn't going to lead to weight loss and diet comes into the equation. But logic says that there must be a balance when you equate calories taken in with calories burnt off, given that individual metabolisms do definitely seem to vary for whatever reasons.

lilac_lady

I think only extreme exercising will lead to weight loss but gentle exercise like walking will help you to keep mobile.

VfM4meplse

Ted_Hutchinson wrote: »

Does Exercise Really Keep Us Healthy? IN BRIEF:
While exercise can boost mood, its health benefits have been oversold.
Moderate exercise can reduce the risk of diabetes in people at risk.
Exercise may reduce the risk of heart disease and breast and colon cancers.
Though the evidence is mixed, exercise may also provide benefits for people with osteoporosis.
Physical activity alone will not lead to sustained weight loss or reduce blood pressure or cholesterol.

These statements need to be substantiated by an evidence base - submitted unsupported by references they lack credibility. You may be unaware the nation is on the brink of an obesity epidemic which is in part due to inactivity. The level of exercise the public is advised to take is minimal, I don't see how your post can possibly be of benefit to anyone - if anything is unlikley to encourage anyone at the pre-contemplative post Christmas stage to take up regular excercise.

Well done:T.

Pennylane

I know I just FEEL so much better when I get out in the fresh air and take some exercise. I love walking and cycling but I am not into gyms. I do like swimming and should make more effort to go more frequently.

brokeinwales

Summary of the article is pretty much "Exercise is good for you, but it won't solve all your problems". A fair point, but hardly revolutionary!
Although I would argue that people who have active hobbies and work out a lot tend to have more respect for their own bodies, and tend to look after themselves more.

Not sure what the money saving point to this thread is though... (exercise is free after all!)

Ted_Hutchinson

VfM4meplse wrote: »

These statements need to be substantiated by an evidence base

Did you try following the link to the article?

Are you able to provide links to the evidence that exercise on it's own has any long term effect on weight loss that will still hold true the moment exercise stops.

- submitted unsupported by references they lack credibility.

but that applies equally to the statement you have made that appears to be unsupported by any references to original research what so ever

You may be unaware the nation is on the brink of an obesity epidemic which is in part due to inactivity.

where is your evidence that lack of exercise precedes the carbohydrate intake intake that raises insulin and causes fat accumulation?
Surely the evidence is that carbohydrate intake raises insulin, precedes fat accumulation that results in reluctance to exercise. If we are going to solve the obesity epidemic we have to understand the science.

There is no valid reason or biological necessity for eating carbohydrate. Humans evolved from species that existed by hunting and gathering. What evidence can you provide that demonstrates our DNA is so significantly different that now refined carbohydrate is required as a major portion of every meal?

The level of exercise the public is advised to take is minimal

and will do diddly squat for obesity statistics. If people are being advised to exercise it should be for valid evidence based reasons. We know that exercise will reduce the risk of breast cancer, Alzhiemer's, diabetes, heart disease we can produce the evidence to show the benefits. We cannot show the evidence that increasing exercise necessarily reduces obesity, even if it is for a very good reason we should not tell lies.

I don't see how your post can possibly be of benefit to anyone

On the contrary, showing people how they are being deceived by health professionals will encourage them to take control of their own health. It takes only a few minutes to discover how current medical dogma is out of touch with reality. Once we understand the process that drives medical policy has nothing to do with good health but rather what suits big business we will be better prepared to make rational evidence based decisions.

if anything is unlikley to encourage anyone at the pre-contemplative post Christmas stage to take up regular excercise.

I think more people will take up exercise if they do so for evidence based reasons. If you con people into doing exercise in the mistaken impression it will help them lose weight then when they find that they just work up an appetite and want to eat more they will become disillusioned and give up thinking themselves failures.

I was able to lose 2.25lbs week after week last year simply by not eating those foods that make me hungry and cause insulin secretion which drives fat storage. If you only eat those foods that don't disrupt blood glucose you keep your insulin low, this allows fat from adipose tissue to be burn't as fuel and thus you lose weight, while not feeling hungry or having to exercise.
As you lose weight you have greater inclination to exercise so you exercise more.

People will exercise more when they lose weight.

We need to put the science first, once people understand the science of fat accumulation they are able to do something to reverse the process.

Make reading this your New Years Resolution

Ted_Hutchinson

brokeinwales wrote: »

Not sure what the money saving point to this thread is though... (exercise is free after all!)

Many people make buying a gym membership their New Years Resolution. How many people actually get their money's worth out of it and would they not be better off doing outdoor exercise (Vitamin d) such as walking, cycling.

melancholly

yes it does

Ted_Hutchinson

melancholly wrote: »

yes it does

But my point that those who exercise outdoors generally have higher vitamin d status is also relevant.

What actually is the benefit that accrues to those living in the Mediterranean and eating a Mediterranean diet.

and if we really want to be in the group that has the longest survival who can guess what we really need to do.

Actually the probable reason why the overweight in Melancholly's article had better survival is probably because the overweight have higher cholesterol levels and as I'm sure everyone knows the higher your cholesterol the longer you live and visa versa the lower your cholesterol the higher your risk of dying.

brokeinwales

Many people make buying a gym membership their New Years Resolution. How many people actually get their money's worth out of it and would they not be better off doing outdoor exercise (Vitamin d) such as walking, cycling.

So it's not exercise itself that costs money - it's just the kind of exercise people choose to do - which is another issue entirely...
It's worth remembering that the original purpose of going to the gym was always mainly to assist athletes in training for other competive sports (such as boxing, rugby etc) rather than as an exercise regime in itself - although sadly people tend not to view it that way any more. People don't take up sports or physical activity that they might enjoy (and therefore has benefits far beyond the merely physcal - whether that's weight loss or whatever), they spend a fortune on something they consider a chore (i.e. the gym) and then feel guilty when they end up not going.
Personally I believe a lot of that can be blamed on school PE lessons, but that's another issue.
It's always made me laugh how many people will drive to the gym, work out on a rowing machine, run on a running machine, lift weights and then drive back. Apart from the fact that if they walked the distance they just drove, they probably wouldn't need to go to the gym as often - why do you need a machine to do those activities? Why not just go running? or rowing? Or carry an old lady's shopping back from Tesco?

I'm not sure that I agree with you that the benefits of exercise have been oversold. Mis-sold maybe...