Longevity Bloomington Newsletter # 16 - Exercise is Medicine, and so much more
Research Roundup - Exercise is Medicine
The widespread effects of exercise on overall health, quality of life, and disease prevention and treatment is staggering. There is overwhelming evidence in the scientific literature that a lack of physical activity is a main contributor in many chronic diseases. The fact that exercise is beneficial for your health is probably not news to you. However, the extent and scope of these benefits might surprise you.
Recent research is discovering that exercise is both powerful and wide-reaching. The benefits of exercise are not limited to your muscles and cardiovascular system. Exercise effects almost every part of the body, from the immune system to the brain to each individual cell.
“There is no single medication treatment that can influence as many organ systems in a positive manner as can physical activity.”
-Todd Manini, PhD - JAMA 2016
A 2012 review determined that exercise can serve as the cornerstone in the primary prevention of at least 35 chronic diseases! Below, you can see a list of some of the diseases that exercise can help combat.
If exercise is medicine, what is the recommended dose? The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend 150 minutes of moderate-intensity (or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity) physical activity and at least 2 days of muscle strengthening each week. How many adults meet these guidelines? Only 20%! More importantly, does meeting the recommended “dose” improve health outcomes? It appears that it does. A 2020 article in the British Medical Journal found that there was a 40% reduction in all-cause mortality for the individuals that met the recommended physical activity “dose” versus those that did not.
Many pharmaceutical companies are attempting to create medication that mimics the effects of exercise. These “exercise mimetic” drugs attempt to improve your metabolism in similar ways as exercise. Up this point, no one has created a pill that comes close to matching the widespread beneficial effects of exercise. Eddie Jo, PhD is a professor of exercise physiology at Cal Poly Pomona and made a great post regarding the wide-ranging effects of exercise (see below).
“ ‘Exercise is Medicine’ is a mantra that is widely and irrefutably accepted by the medical community as well as the general public. It is, although, largely perceived in a more figurative manner with the simple understanding that a lifestyle incorporating exercise is good for health and is thereby, "medicine". However, with growing knowledge of the biological mechanisms underlying the health promoting benefits of exercise, the popularized saying has developed a more literal and technical meaning…..what is less emphasized is that many of these drugs are in fact exercise mimetics. In other words, they mimic a particular biological effect of exercise. Common drugs for metabolic diseases such as type II diabetes..…exert their effects on biological targets that regulate processes like….glucose uptake and inflammation, resulting in improved MANAGEMENT of the disease (not treatment). So yes, even from a technical perspective, exercise is indeed medicine.”
-Eddie Jo, PhD (edited for brevity)
Does this mean you should stop taking your medication and exercise instead? Of course not! Many modern pharmaceutical medications are the result of hundreds of years of scientific research. Pharmaceutical companies produce life-saving medication that has saved the lives of millions of people. You should do both. You should take the medication your physician prescribes AND exercise!
“Imagine a pill that conferred the established health benefits of exercise and/or regular physical activity with minimal adverse effects and a multitude of positive effects causing patients to “feel better, function better, and sleep better.” Physicians would surely prescribe that pill to every patient, pharmaceutical companies would produce and market it, health plans would surely pay for it, and every patient would ask for it.”
- Walter Thompson, PhD
Longevity Members in Action
Looking to Add Years to Your Life and Life to Your Years?
Of course, you are! Well, look no further than your yoga mat. A recent meta-analysis of 33 randomized controlled trials in 12 countries found that a regular yoga practice can improve health markers linked to reduced frailty and increased longevity.
Researchers have a variety of definitions for frailty, but as US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said, “I know it when I see it.” No matter the definition we look at, “frailty can make it more difficult to live independently, decrease the quality of life, and increase risk of death.” In other words, it sucks life from one’s years and years from one’s life. As you might suspect, the causes of frailty are complex.
Yoga combines a physical practice of movement, breathing exercises, and meditation. Prior studies have shown that yoga has a positive impact on various measures of health, such as strength, balance, flexibility, as well as mental wellbeing.
Because yoga is a mind-body, integrative practice, it has a myriad of health impacts. According to this study, yoga practice was most closely connected to improved walking speed, which is particularly important given that slower walking speeds are linked to increased mortality rates in older adults. Yoga was also shown to improve strength in the lower body as well as endurance. The lead researcher in this study remarked that, “Since yoga is an integrative practice that impacts multiple areas of health; it may be effective for preventing a syndrome like frailty, which has multiple causes.”
Can yoga add life to your years? Come see for yourself! Yoga classes are held on Monday and Wednesday, 2:00-3:00.
-Patricia (Longevity Bloomington Yoga Instructor)
New Longevity Members
We have added three new members this month:
Eileen
Susan
Cheryl
Welcome to the Longevity family. It has been great having you!
Longevity Social Media
Faster Feet, Fewer Falls
Why do we work on improving agility at Longevity Bloomington? Because improving your agility will improve your reaction time. It will also improve your ability to move your feet quickly in response to a change in your environment - tripping over a rug, slipping on ice or your dog running out in front of you.
Agility is needed to recover from would-be falls and move quickly when necessary.
BONUS: Agility training can increase your heart rate and improve your endurance as well!
Please welcome Claire to the 100 Class Club! She always puts forth her best effort and we appreciate her sense of humor to keep the class laughing. Great work, Claire!