What is the greatest medicine? What makes the biggest difference to your health?

~ People with knee arthritis were on this medicine for one hour, three times/week and this reduced their rates of pain and disability by 47%.

~ This treatment decreased progression to Dementia and Alzheimer’s by 50% in older patients.

~ Patients with high risk of Diabetes had a 58% decrease in the chances of getting frank diabetes on this medicine.

~ Post-menopausal women were treated 4 hours/week and had a 41% reduction in the risk of hip fractures.

~ This treatment decreased anxiety by 48% in a big meta analysis.

~ Patients suffering from depression were on this treatment and 30% were relieved with a low dose of the treatment and this increased to 47% as the treatment was increased.

~ Following 100,000 Harvard Alumni for over 12 years this treatment gave a 23% lower risk of death than those who did not get the treatment.

~ This medicine is the number one treatment of fatigue and most importantly this therapy increases ones quality of life.

SO WHAT IS THE TREATMENT? NOT A SUPER PILL, OR ANY SUPERINVENTION.

THE TREATMENT WAS SIMPLE EXERCISE. Yup you heard me right….Exercise….and with exercise there is no side effects but health benefits.

Dr. Steven Blair conducted a study called the Aerobic Centre longitudinal Study. Where he followed 50,000 men and women. A part of the study was looking for the strongest predictor of death…what do you think he found….did you think smoking was the strongest predictor of death? What about high blood pressure? Both of these were not the answer he found the strongest predictor of death is Low Fitness.

“THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR HEALTH IS BEING ACTIVE FOR A ½ HOUR A DAY”

The studies above looked mainly at walking as the form of exercise. By spending ½ hour or 1 hour being active every day will be a positive benefit to your health.

Another study to note is the nurse’s health study which followed women who were not active and then followed them as they increased their activity to one hour/week and found that they reduced heart disease rates by almost a half!

Your style and approach to exercise is what matters:

~ Remember to talk to your doctor before you start any exercise program.

~ You can meet with friends to play sport or go for a walk

~ Your commute to work can be a walk to work…you save money on parking and your body receives the health benefits from it.

~ Walking the dog is great…one study found dog walkers meet the exercise requirements more often.

~ You can play in a Basketball tournament! By the way the Haida’s won the All Native Tournament this year. Way to Masset Masters and Skidegate Saints! 2013 Champs!

There is no “pill” better than exercise. Hippocrates said, “Walking is man’s best medicine” and I couldn’t agree anymore.

(It is also good for your Brain…..but that will be a later post) 🙂

Peter Eppinga M.D. “Love my Life” especially when exercising!

 

 

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