Although there are no sure-fire recipes for good health, the mixture of healthy eating and regular exercise comes awfully close. Most of Nutrition Source is dedicated to singing the praises of a good diet. This is where exercise gets its due.
Regular exercise or physical activity can do everyone a world of good. It helps prevent heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, and a host of other diseases, and is a key ingredient for losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight.
With all these good things going for it, it’s mind boggling that only a minority of Americans get enough exercise or leisure-time physical activity to benefit.
Body-wide benefits
Studies that have followed the health of large groups of people for many years, as well as short-term studies of the physiologic effects of exercise, all point in the same direction: A sedentary (inactive) lifestyle increases the chances of becoming overweight and developing a number of chronic diseases. Exercise or regular physical activity helps many of the body’s systems function better and keeps a host of diseases at bay. According to the US Surgeon General’s report, Physical Activity and Health, regular physical activity:
* improves your chances of living longer and living healthier
* helps protect you from developing heart disease or its precursors, high blood pressure and high cholesterol
* helps protect you from developing certain cancers, including colon and breast cancer
* helps prevent or control type 2 diabetes (what was once called adult-onset diabetes)
* helps prevent arthritis and may help relieve pain and stiffness in people with this condition
* helps prevent the insidious loss of bone known as osteoporosis
* reduces the risk of falling among older adults
* relieves symptoms of depression and anxiety and improves mood
* controls weight
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