One Simple Thing You Can Take to Protect From a Host of Diseases

I attended my 32 year high school reunion a few months ago. This might sound like an odd number but it was of significance as it is also the year most of us turn 50 and received a bowel screening test kit from the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program in the mail. This is the first time I have had to do a test for any cancer diseases which made it quite clear for me that I am at a stage of life where my lifestyle decisions have a tangible effect and the metaphorical bullet proof vest has gone.

One Simple Thing You Can Take to Protect From a Host of Diseases

Is there a Wonder Drug?

Some of the content in this article has been taken from an piece in the August 2012 edition of the New Scientist magazine which was written by their biomedical news reporter Andy Coghlan.

There is one simple thing you can take to protect against a host of life threatening diseases.

It can help protect you from heart attack, stroke, diabetes, obesity, cancers, Alzheimer’s and depression.

Andy Coughlan writes, “It’s 9am in the office – time for my daily medication. As usual, I slink off to the fire escape for my fix. Twenty minutes later, I’m back at my desk, brimming with vitality and raring to go.”

“I’ve taken this medicine regularly now for about eight years after developing elevated blood pressure in my mid 40’s. I’d heard it could help reduce blood pressure and improve circulation. Sure enough, the high blood pressure vanished long ago.”

“Amazingly, this drug is freely available to everyone on the planet. It’s completely up to you when you take it, and how much. And as research is now revealing, the more of it you take, the healthier you will be.”

What is this Wonder Drug?

It is plain old physical activity of all sorts – from going for a jog to simply doing some gardening. We’ve all heard that exercise is good for us, but what is becoming increasingly clear is the sheer extent of its benefits and why it works.

A plethora of recent studies shows that exercise protects us from numerous diseases and can even boost memory. It has the potential to prevent more premature deaths than any other single treatment, with none of the side effects of actual medication.

“It’s a wonder drug,” says Erik Richter, a diabetes researcher at the University Of Copenhagen, Denmark. “There’s probably not a single organ in the body that’s unaffected by it”.

“We were built to be active, but the way our environment has changed and the way we live our lives has led us to become inactive”, says Christopher Hughes, Senior Lecturer in sport and medicine at Queen Mary University of London.

Interestingly, Hughes also comments “Everyone knows too much booze or tobacco is bad for you, but if physical inactivity was packaged and sold as a product, it would need to carry a health warning label”.

Exercise is Medicine

What Dose is Needed?

The most robust evidence comes from the Exercise Is Medicine initiative pioneered by the American College of Sports Medicine in Indiana. The findings of the initiative show that taking the US government’s recommended weekly dose of exercise of 150 minutes of moderate intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity halves the risk of breast cancer in women and lowers the risk of bowel cancer by around 60 per cent.

Moderate activity is defined as brisk walking, ballroom dancing, gardening and more vigorous activity as cycling, jogging or swimming.

The Exercise is Medicine findings also show that the weekly dose of moderate activity reduces the risk of premature death through heart disease by 40%, approximately the same as taking certain heart disease and cholesterol medication.

A study in Taiwan of over 430,000 men and women showed that exercise reduced the risk of heart attack by 30-50%. The physical activity stimulated blood circulation, flushed out fatty deposits in blood vessels and dilated small blood vessels that could otherwise be the cause of heart attack or stroke.

Diabetes is a Big Winner Too

One of the most startling finds of the Exercise is Medicine study is that a modest weekly dose of exercise lowers the chances of developing type 2 diabetes by 58%, twice the preventive power of one of the most widely prescribed anti diabetes drugs.

Exercise for your Brain

Research at the University of Illinois found that modest increases in fitness can lead to 15 – 20% improvements in memory, which makes up for about 2 years of normal age related memory decrease.

Fit and Fat

Overweight people can benefit considerably from exercise even if they don’t lose weight. Research at the University of South Carolina of more than 50,000 men and women showed that a lack of cardio respiratory (aerobic) fitness was the most important risk factor for early death – more than obesity, diabetes and high cholesterol together.

Another study by the same people showed that fit fat people have half the risk of dying prematurely than unfit lean people.

Back to the Guy Who Goes in the Fire Escape

His scans and tests show his blood pressure and bone density tests are normal and he has 6% less body fat than the average man for his age. His heart fitness is above average and has no chronic disease that he knows of.

Now imagine if you were offered a pill that did all that? My bet is that you would take it.

He Who Sits the Most Dies the Soonest

This article is taken from a piece written by Neil Wagner in the reputable USA magazine The Atlantic, April 2012 edition.

An Australian study of more than 200,000 people over the age of 45 over a 4 year period has shown those who sit the most die the soonest.

Its most striking finding was that people who sat more than 11 hours a day had a 40% higher risk of dying in the next 3 years than people who sat less than 4 hours a day. This was after adjusting for factors such as age, weight, physical activity and general health status, all of which affect the death risk. It also found a clear dose – response effect in that the more you sat the higher the risk of death.

You Can Change Your Risk

Physical activity did change the risk significantly. People who sat the most and exercised the least had a 100% higher risk of early death than those who sat the least and exercised the most. Even though the death risk was lower for those who exercised for 5 hours or more per week the risk still rose as these active people sat for longer.

In other words people still need to exercise, but it’s also important to spend less time sitting.

Sitting is Just One Blip Above Lying

Sitting is just one rung up the activity ladder from lying down, so imagine if you laid down for 6-10 hours each work day and then laid down again at night to sleep for 6-8 hours. That is between 12 and 20 hours of lying down out of a 24 hour day. With sitting just one blip above lying down, both of these ‘activities’ have your body just ticking over at a very low idling tempo for most of your day.

I think most of you would regard that as a madness……..lying down for 12 to 20 hours each day and then expecting to be healthy.