More Benefits of Exercise

Researchers at Harvard say that strenuous exercise results in a 50% decrease in depressive symptoms; the same effective relief that patients achieve with the leading antidepressant medications and psychotherapy.

Additional benefits of regular exercise as cited in the study are good feelings from camaraderie and removing the focus from other life-problems. Combined with research that suggests a possible boost in the growth of brain cells and the connections between them, it is surprising that more people are not exercising.

This is even more evident considering the number of other patients that can “treat” diseases or symptoms of disease with exercise as well. Arthritis for instance, will not be cured by exercise, but studies show that losing just 5.7% of body weight can have a beneficial effect on pain and increase mobility.

When hypertension is first diagnosed, patients and doctors turn to drugs. However, mild increases in blood pressure can be effectively treated with exercise, weight loss, salt reduction and dietary changes. Even the simple addition of calcium, potassium, and magnesium combines to relax constricted blood vessels and combat hypertension.

In addition to hypertension therapy, an increasing number of patients are taking drugs to decrease the effects of osteoporosis. And just like with hypertension, the severity of many osteoporosis cases can be reduced by regular exercise and proper diet. For optimal health, weight bearing exercise and resistance training should be accompanied by adequate vitamin D and calcium.

Above all, the fact that exercise is the prime mode of battling the epidemics of obesity and diabetes must be accepted. According to authors, exercise can completely turn around one’s health when combined with responsible eating.

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