WHY EXERCISE?

• 4/21/2008 Printed is the Daily Herald Health and Fitness Section. "Harvard Medical School states that having a potbelly in your 40's roughly triples your risk of dementia later in life. Visceral belly fat - the kind that accumulates around the internal organs - has also been linked to diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, sleep apnea and numerous cancers. Women with waists larger than 35 inches were 79% more likely to die prematurely than those with waists less than 27 inches. For men the danger point seemed to be 40 inches or more. Aerobic exercise (brisk walking and running) appears to be more effective in reducing visceral belly fat because it is the first to go when exercising." Spot reducing exercises (Sit-ups) do not rid the body of visceral fat.

• 12/10/07 Printed in the Daily Herald Health and Fitness Section. A University of Illinois study gives another reason to exercise. The study states that exercise helps wounds heal faster --- a particular boon to diabetics and older adults.

• 1/22/07 from the Daily Herald Health Health and Fitness Section. Sixth graders that engage in vigorous physical activity tend to earn higher grades in Math, Science, English and World Studies. Only students who met or exceeded the physical activities guidelines of Healthy People 2010 got better grades. The criteria calls for 30 minutes of moderate activity 5 days a week plus at least 20 minutes of vigorous activity 3 days a week.

• 10/16/06 Daily Herald Health Section. Studies conducted by the Harvard Medical School and University College in London indicate that our rate of high blood pressure is 32% higher than the Canadians. It further found our rate of diabetes is double that of England; and our rate of obesity is 35% higher than that of either country. Their bottom line is that we need not panic but we do need to shape up.




• 10/9/06 The Daily Herald Health and Fitness Section. One out of every three 12 to 19 year olds failed the treadmill tests for fitness. For those who are interested, that's 33% of our children can't pass this fitness test. These tests measured heart and respiratory health, and that fatness and sedentary lifestyles are the likely reasons for failure. These findings were published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolecent Medicine.




• During the previous week, Richard Simmons, speaking with a Fox News Newscaster, met with the President's office attempting to mandate daily Physical Education in our schools. Apparently the meeting didn't go well but he has not given up yet. His idea is to get kids to be active. He does not endorse any intervention to limit what kids can eat. Again moderation seems to be emphasized. He states further unless there is a move for mandatory P.E. our children will not live as long as their parents and will be a larger burden to our present health care system.

• 1/17/06 Reduce calorie intake by 1000 and the body seems to perform basic functions better. Example used was heart performance. It was said to be the basic "Fountain of Youth".

• 1/16/06 Alzheimer's disease seems to be diminished with execrise. TV News.

• 3/15/05 Government suggests 90 minutes of exercise every day. Unfortunately the article in the Daily Herald did not mention who should exercise 90 minutes and who should exercise 30 minutes a day. My opinion would be that a couch potato (obese) person would gain serious health benefit from 30 minutes of exercise which would be a huge lifestyle change for that person. A person who lost a significant amount of weight should do the 90 minutes daily to keep the weight off. A conditioned person may only need 30 minutes of exercise just to maintain what has been achieved by exercise.

• 1/10/05 Multiple news sources. Eat less and exercise more! CDC Now recommends 30 to 90 minutes of exercise per day.

• 11/9/04 A 50% reduction in type 2 diabetes can be achieved by exercise and diet. Fox News Channel

• 7/16/04 Obesity is now considered an ILLNESS by MEDICARE. Fox News Channel & The Daily Herald.

• 4/28/04 Daily Herald article. Exercise delays mental aging in the elderly.

• March 2004. Obesity has caught up with smoking as the number 1 killer in the our country. Experts were confused as to the reason for this unexpected jump. The answer seems to be super-sizing in the fast food industry. We are a nation that is over-weight to obese because we over-eat and do not exercise as we should.

• Here's one for the couch potatos. 1/10/2004 a radio anouncement verified that 30 minutes of brisk walking kept couch potatos from gain additional weight. The same thing appeared in print and on a local TV program. An additional bit stated that the extreme couch potato could lose a pound or two by brisk walking.

• Another World wide study focuses attention on our teens. We have the largest number of teens in the world that are over-weight and obese. According to a news item in the Daily Herald (1/6/2004) 31% of our 15 year old girls were modestly over-weight with an additional 15% being obese. 28% of our 15 year old boys were modestly over-weight with nearly another 14% being obese. That is an eye opener. 46% of our girls and 42% of our boys are over-weight to obese. These kids are high school age. This result shows the need for increased emphasis on exercise during their first 8 years in school. The ultimate question is: "Why are schools allowed to avoid and de-emphasize mandated, DAILY Physical Education as per Illinois State Law?"

• Obesity hit the news and questions arose as to why many doctors don't perscribe exercise for their patients instead of/or with perscribed drugs. Also parents were urged to get their children to become more physically active to prevent a rise in childhood obesity. "Obese children grow up to be obese adults". Summer 2003.

• Exercise has recently been found to be both a treatment and preventative for cancer. Appeared in the Daily Herald 11/4/02.

• While spending a month in Florida, March 2002, the newsmedia reported that Texas was re-mandating daily Physical Education classes out of concern that more and more kids are becoming obese. Shortly after that announcement I had heard that the State of Ohio was considering the same idea for the same reasons.

• In May newspaper articles have been appearing in relation to people who weigh a 100 lbs. or more having difficulty being treated in hospitals etc. Not only do they have health problems but those who must treat them are having difficulties with injuries suffered from treating these obese people. It appears that obesity is surfacing as a very real health concern in the USA today. In a June 2003 Daily Herald article a correlation between obesity and some forms of cancer including lung cancer were discussed.

When I was preparing to become a Physical Educator, we were given three benefits of exercise (Strength, Endurance and Flexibility). Now, through the wonder of science, technology and research, there are many more and the list continues to grow. In order to stay current, one has to sift through this information and find what is sound and what is questionable. The following list is a compilation of information that came from professional articles as well as from books, newspapers, radio and TV programs. The first four are a few of the more recent developments. This list is by no means all inclusive or in any special order. It contains some of the things I thought were relative and interesting.

1. Bone density can be increased by running and jumping activities. There is a time line however. This building process occurs up to the age of 21 to 25. By continuing to exercise, you can maintain a certain density level. The aging process will cause you to lose this density. Exercise has been shown to delay this aging process. With regular exercise, you just don't lose it as quickly. Bone density refers to the strength of bones. Exercise as described above keeps bones from becoming brittle and subject to fractures. It may also delay osteoporosis in your later years.
2. If a woman exercises only 1 hour a week, she reduces her chance of breast cancer by 30%. Four hours per week reduces this chance by 60%. In my mind, this is a major find for women considering the number of incidents that occur and the affect it has on the people diagnosed. It would seem that this could also be related to high body fat percentages.
3. Eating less may help you add 20 years to your life. This does not mean you should become anorexic or bulimic. It means to push away from the table before you are full. This seems to be in line with other information. People who are starving to death in the world have been found at some point to be disease free, even though they are starving to death. Excess body fat appears to keep people from being healthy. It seems to be a breading ground for disease / illness. Without expanding, Covert Bailey's "Fit Or Fat" seems to say it all. "You are either fit or fat". He even gives a body fat percentage line not to pass. My experience has been, the fitter the individual, the less absenteeism there is. It is for this reason many businesses have set up work out facilities for their employees. Absenteeism goes down and productivity goes up. Seems like a good investment.
4. Diabetes has been affected by exercise. In some people, exercise has eliminated a diabetic problem. It should be noted here, that these people were under a doctor's care and supervision.

Other exercise affects are:

• Muscle metabolism rises with exercise. This means you burn off more calories even after you have finished your workout.
• Muscle is almost the only thing that burns off the calories we eat. Everything we eat is turned to fat and used as fuel for the muscles. The calories we don't use are stored somewhere in / on the body. Usually it is stored in a place we'd rather not see it go.
• Muscle tissue metabolizes up to 5 times the rate as fat tissue.
• High body fat percentages have been linked to lung cancer and other health related problems.
• The human skeleton was designed to carry a certain amount of weight. When we become over-weight, more stress is placed on tendinous attachments and ligaments of the weight bearing joints. This appears to be the cause of knee and ankle distress along with hip and lower back pain in over-weight people.
• Muscle is denser than fat but fat takes up to 20% more room than muscle. This is why our clothes feel much tighter at the end of a cruise. With an increase in exercise, it is possible to gain weight and lose inches.
• Aerobic exercise for 20 to 30 minutes or longer has been shown to be a great fat burning activity. We begin to reap the benefits of this exercise at the 20 to 30 minute mark. But don?t stop there. Go longer and burn more fat.
• Exercise increases the size and strength of muscles. Every movement we make is caused by a muscle contraction. Adding resistance to the muscles will increase strength and ultimately its size.
• Bone and muscle attachments are strengthened with exercise.
• The heart is a muscle
• Heart stroke volume is increased with exercise. That means the heart is able to pump more blood per stroke through the circulatory system.
• More capillaries are formed to carry blood throughout the body. This also happens in the heart muscle, reducing the potential risk for a HEART ATTACK.
• The increase in the number of these vessels has also shown a drop in blood pressure.
• Because of the above formation, more plasma is produced for the bloodstream.
• All of the body systems become more efficient with exercise. This is generally called the training effect. Over time you will find that you can do more work with less effort.
• Stress can be released through exercise and minimize your risk of heart attacks and other physical ailments.
• Exercise can affect sleep, making the results better by giving you a deeper, more restful sleep. Some forms of depression seem to be related to restless sleep.
• Exercise is thought to bring the right and left brain into a more harmonious state which aids in better problem solving abilities.
• As aerobic fitness levels rise, the bronchioles in the lungs dilate making it possible for more air to pass in an out of the lungs.
• Resting pulse rate is lowered with regular exercise.
• Hunger is lessened by rigorous exercise.
• Exercise increases the good cholesterol and lowers the bad. Some research has shown that the substances that create heart disease has already been found in second and third grade children.
• Self-esteem, self-satisfaction and a sense of well-being rise as fitness levels increase.
• A radio health tip said that a lack of exercise presents the same health risks as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.
• THE SURGEON GENERAL HAS POINTED OUT THAT A LACK OF PHYSICAL EXERCISE IS DETRIMENTAL TO YOUR HEALTH.

Armed with all of this information, it doesn't take a genius to come to the conclusion that your body was designed for movement, and rigorous movement at that. This means sweating and taxing your body's energies. By doing this daily, we can increase our health and fitness levels.

Why are Most Americans over-weight and out of shape? The answer is easy. It's our lifestyle! Most of us don't walk anywhere of great distance. We drive or are driven. We don't walk up or down stairs. That's what elevators and escalators are for. We sit and watch television for hours on end. We are a nation of spectators. We keep our children occupied by buying them video games or letting them surf the internet for hours at a time. I'm just as guilty as I sit and write this article on my computer. It seems that exercise for many amounts to walking into the kitchen for a snack and then sitting in front of a television set. This lifestyle is being passed down to our children who will come up with a way to make life even easier. But at what cost will this happen?

Many people don't know how to exercise or even get started with an exercise program that will benefit themselves. Because of our lifestyle, we have a tendency to baby ourselves. Many fear fatigue or exhaustion. If you understand that it takes quite a lot of exercise to produce fatigue in muscles, then exercising for 20 to 30 minutes or longer just barely taps the body's energy reserves. In order to increase our health and fitness level, we must be willing to increase our exercise intensity. "The benefits achieved from this exercise, are not in the knowing, but in the doing!" Maybe we should think of exercise as an intervention, a preventative for disease, because that is what it has been shown to be. Exercise is truly the Wonder Drug of the New Millennium.

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