Exercise - The Real Wonder Drug

The Real Wonder Drug

A review and reminder

 

Exercise is good for the mind and for the body.

It sharpens the mind and boosts mood.

It provides energy and a sense of mastery.

It improves the quality of your sleep so you wake up

feeling better rested.

 

It keeps the heart and blood vessels in working order.

It protects against such common conditions as diabetes.

It is invaluable in weight control.

 

Now comes more good news:

Intense exercise may curb your sweet tooth.

Animal studies show that exercise decreases preference for sweetness.

 

Scientists aren't sure why exercise has this effect.

It may be that intense activity revs up endorphins

and related substances in your brain,

and that powerfully positive blast of pleasure

might decrease the need for satisfying food.

 

The danger for athletes is that such an effect

might keep them from consuming enough

food to replace calories lost in exertion.

But most of us have no such problem.

 

And there's more good news...

Long-term exercise

improves your immune system with 30 minutes of exercise a day.

Three times a week, adults strengthened not only their muscles

but the immune system's first line of defense against viral infection.

 

Blood tests showed them to have more active natural killer cells.

 

They had no such boost in immune function

if they exercised for only three months.

 

It took 11 months of working out to impact the immune system.

 

The results were especially important because the exercisers

were older adults. The researchers say the study demonstrates

how a little exercise can help people maintain their health

and independence with advancing age.

 

And that leads directly to other new findings.

For example, working out is great,

but when you stop doing it,

you lose the benefits.

 

As the saying goes, use it or lose it.

 

When you stop exercising, you lose not only the physical benefits,

but the psychological benefits as well.

 

In this case, researchers looked at adults with lung disease

and found that after just 10 weeks of exercising --

 

doing aerobic workouts,

strength training and

stretching three times a week

 

-- there were significant gains mentally and physically.

Exercisers boosted high-level cognitive abilities and were

better able to maintain train of thought.

They also showed fewer signs of depression and anxiety.

 

If they kept on exercising, they maintained the benefits,

but there were no subsequent gains in mental or physical function

even if they kept up the good work for a year.

There comes a point where the gains max out.

 

However, those who stopped exercising returned

to their original, pre-study level of functioning.

They lost all they had gained.

 

No matter what, you just have to keep up the physical activity

to get the benefits.

 

And don't expect a single bout of exercise to do much good,

at least for your sleep.

 

If exercise isn't habitual, a single period of exertion

-- whether it's aerobic exercise or resistance-type exercise

-- can actually disrupt your sleep.

 

If losing weight is one of the benefits you seek,

then studies show your exercise has to consist of

aerobic and calorie-burning activities,

such as

 

walking,

jogging,

swimming or

bicycle riding.

 

Weight training offers many benefits --

 

like building muscle and strength,

boosting immunity,

reducing the risk of low-back injury --

 

but by itself it won't burn enough calories to promote much weight loss.

 

So get into the habit

.

Choose an activity that you like and

one you can keep on doing.

And just keep going at a nice steady pace.