When we typically think of “medicine,” you most likely conjure images of pills or perhaps some sort of medical procedure. But this way of thinking about health, wellness, and treatment is too narrow, and as a society, we must start considering all the ways that lifestyle, including our diet and exercise habits, can not only help us prevent diseases but can also be used to treat various disorders.
The concept of exercise as medicine, as a therapy for healing and treating diseases and disorders of the mind and body, is gaining momentum among the conventional medical community.
There is more and more evidence to support the use of exercise to treat specific diseases, and we now understand better than ever the impact of regular exercise of the prevention of disease, as well.
Our guide explores how we need to rethink exercise and its role as medicine in our healthcare routine. We will explore the research linking exercise to disease treatment and prevention and examine the many diseases that can be treated using exercise therapy as well as ways to use exercise to prevent disease and remain healthy. We’ll even help you figure out how to get started exercising, even if you haven’t been active in a while.
Rethinking Exercise
As a nation, Americans spend over 350 billion dollars a year on prescription medications! As we age, we tend to take more medicine, and the average person in their 80s takes eight different drugs. But what if we rethought all these drugs and prescriptions and instead considered other ways to heal our bodies and treat diseases?
What if there were some change you could make to your lifestyle that could have similar effects on your health as drugs but was readily available, free of adverse side effects, and relatively inexpensive?
Exercise may just be the next big advancement in conventional medicine, as it benefits every system in your body, can be used to both prevent and treat disease, and influences not only your physical but also your emotional and psychological health.
From sexual dysfunction to heart disease, from dementia to depression, exercise is a treatment that can improve and treat many diseases, often for the long-term and better than prescription drugs.
As a preventative treatment, exercise could end the need for excessive medical tests and scans as well as surgeries and procedures. Instead of dispensing medications, it is time for doctors to start prescribing more exercise and for patients to rethink exercise’s place in their lives.
With 70% of people in the US carrying around extra weight, including nearly 1/3 of us categorized as obese (Centers for Disease Control), it really is time to rethink exercise not as something we should do but as something vitally important to our health.
The American Heart Association recommends a minimum of 150 minutes of exercise every week, but most of us get only a small portion of that. So, why should be we make this important lifestyle change?
The Evidence on Exercise as Medicine
We have known about the health benefits of exercise for millennia. In recent decades, though, medical researchers have confirmed what we have always known; being more physically active is better for your heart, your brain, your digestion, and can prevent a whole host of diseases and problems. And the evidence to support this claim just keeps mounting.
In a 2015 meta analysis published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine reviewed all the literature on the effects of exercise on chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.
In all the literature, the authors found no statistically significant difference between those who treated their disease with prescription drugs and those who treated theirs with exercise. That means that exercise is just as effective as medication at treating these disorders, and this has been shown in multiple studies over many years.
In addition to affecting physical health, regular exercise has been shown to improve mental health, as well.
A 2014 study, for example, reported that the size of the hippocampus, which is the area of the brain responsible for verbal memory and learning, increases with regular, aerobic exercise (Aerobic exercise increases hippocampal volume in older women with probable mild cognitive impairment: a 6-month randomized controlled trial; Lisanne F ten Brinke).
Other studies have also found links between regular exercise and a decrease in overall mental health problems, resulting in greater well-being and overall life satisfaction (Association between physical exercise and mental health in 1·2 million individuals in the USA between 2011 and 2015: a cross-sectional study; Chekroud, et al).
The literature is replete with study after study confirming the many benefits of exercise for the heart, brain, and muscles including how it can improve your health and well-being. It is time to start listening to common sense, to recognize the significant role that exercise plays in health, and to start taking our “medication” regularly.
Exercising regularly doesn’t mean you may not get sick. Exercise does not cure all diseases. There are many factors that influence your health, including your genetics, life circumstances, chance, and even your financial stability.
But exercise provides you with the greatest chance at the best health you can possibly have. It makes you stronger and better able to fight any diseases that come your way, and it will keep your active and enjoying your life much longer.
A Growing Problem
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized the growing epidemic of obesity, chronic disease, and heart disease around the world. In 2010, the WHO published the “Global Recommendations on Physical Activity for Health,” which builds on earlier research on the effects of diet and physical activity on health worldwide.
The WHO is seeking to prevent non-communicable disease around the globe by increasing the amount of physical activity that we all get. According to their research, insufficient exercise or activity is one of the leading causes of death in the world, and it is a key risk factor for many diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.
Globally, 25% of adults and 80% of adolescents are not getting enough daily activity (WHO). This trend is growing and could lead to death rates unknown until our time from preventable diseases.
Diseases that can Be Treated with Exercise
Exercise can serve as an effective treatment for many different chronic and acute disorders. If you have a chronic illness, such as diabetes, asthma, or heart disease, or you suffer from chronic pain or inflammation, you can improve your symptoms and reverse the signs of your disorder with exercise.
Many people experience such exceptional benefits from exercise that they can discontinue the use of medications or other forms of conventional medical intervention. Here are the many different diseases that can be treated successfully with exercise.
Heart Disease
Heart disease, or cardiovascular disease in general, can be improved immensely with regular exercise. Exercise must be used in conjunction with proper nutrition to effectively treat heart disease, but its impact on your overall heart health is immense.
The most important exercises you can do to treat your heart disease are those that involve the large muscle groups of your body. Activities like swimming, running, jogging, and walking are all excellent choices.
Cardiovascular exercises that increase your heart rate not only make your heart muscle stronger, but they also boost your metabolism and increase the supply of blood to all parts of your body. Regular exercise gives strength, stability, and endurance to the major muscles of your body. And by strengthening your cardiac muscles, you are more effectively able to combat the symptoms and risk factors for heart disease.
Exercise that works your heart means your cardiac muscles don’t need to work as hard to pump blood through your body, putting you at decreased risk of a heart attack. By exercising regularly, you can lower your cardiovascular disease burden and start on a path to better heart health.
Hypertension
Regular exercise also effectively lowers your blood pressure. Chronic high blood pressure, known as hypertension, is the number one risk factor for heart disease and places you at substantial risk for having a heart attack.
Hypertension is the result of your heart working too hard to pump blood effectively through your body. When your heart muscles are stronger, as a result of more frequent exercise, it will not have to work as hard, reducing your overall blood pressure.
Regular exercise has been shown to be able to reduce systolic blood pressure significantly, and for many people, regular exercise can mean the end to needing prescription drugs to manage hypertension.
Type 2 Diabetes
Not only is regular exercise an effective treatment for Type 2 diabetes, but when it is combined with the right dietary changes, you can actually completely cure this disease and cut it from your life altogether. When you exercise regularly, your body uses insulin more effectively, reducing your overall blood sugar levels. In addition, exercise can help you manage your weight, which is a significant contributing factor to Type 2 diabetes development.
Because exercise builds muscle, and muscle tissues use glucose without the need for insulin, the more muscle you have, the less insulin your body will need. Those who exercise just 30 minutes per day five days per week see an immediate improvement in their diabetic symptoms, and when you keep a healthy exercise regimen long-term, you can see your symptoms completely reverse.
Exercise can also help treat insulin resistance or address pre-diabetic symptoms, which can prevent the onset of diabetes entirely.
Depression
Clinical depression can be treated using regular exercise therapy. Many studies have documented that exercise is more successful at reducing depression symptoms than many prescription anti-depressants, and those who exercise regularly report fewer depressive episodes.
Exercise releases endorphins, which are “feel good” hormones in your brain. These boost your mood and enhance your overall outlook. They also reduce your perceptions of pain, which is helpful for certain types of depression, as well. When you exercise regularly, you can even manage your weight and improve your overall health and fitness, which can provide you with an improved sense of self.
Anxiety
Like depression, anxiety can also be treated with exercise. Anxiety is caused or made worse by stress. Exercise is an effective method for reducing stress. As more blood is pumped through your body and supplying oxygen to your cells, you feel less fatigue and more alert, which allows you to concentrate more.
This improvement in mental functioning makes you better able to deal with stress. Exercise also reduces the ability of pain receptors in your brain to feel discomfort, which can help you relax and release tension, too. All these benefits make you feel less anxious and more able to handle your life.
Arthritis
Arthritis is the result of inflammation in the joints. It causes pain, swelling, and stiffness in joints such as fingers, wrists, knees, and hips. The use of the right type of exercises can effectively treat many of the symptoms of arthritis, including pain and fatigue.
Because arthritis reduces your range of motion, exercise can improve your muscle strength and joint mobility, which can improve your quality of life. Those exercises that are best for arthritis include those that build flexibility, such as Pilates, yoga, tai chi, and other forms of stretching. Preserving your mobility is an important goal for treating arthritis.
Exercising in the water and light resistance training can help to treat arthritis. Using resistance bands and small weights help build strength, which can reduce symptoms, as well.
Fibromyalgia
Resistance training and stretching are helpful in managing the pain and inflammation of fibromyalgia. The deep muscle pain and fatigue associated with fibromyalgia can be decreased, and regular exercise can reduce the intensity and frequency of flare-ups.
Exercises like tai chi, yoga, and stretching are also helpful for treating fibromyalgia. Regular exercise can boost your emotional state, increase your range of motion, and lower your pain if you have fibromyalgia.
Osteoporosis
Regular exercise is excellent for increasing bone density and preventing the deterioration of bone tissue that is caused by osteoporosis. Lifting weights builds muscle, too, which helps you to maintain your posture and improve your range of motion. When you have osteoporosis, it is important to keep flexibility, so you can avoid falls, and exercise is an excellent way to remain flexible.
Back Pain
If you suffer from chronic back pain, regular strength training and aerobic exercise can help support your spine, improve your movement, and relieve your pain. Strengthening your core muscles helps improve posture and takes pressure off back muscles, as well.
Dementia
Because exercise increases blood flow and helps your heart, it is also helpful for improving the cognition function in those with dementia. Those who are more active are less likely to develop dementia as they age, and once diagnosed, are more likely to experience a slower progression of the disease if they still are active and exercise regularly.
Asthma
Regular exercise is an excellent tool for treating and controlling the severity of asthma. Exercise lowers inflammation, which can lead to asthma attacks. Plus, exercise helps your lungs and heart muscles stay strong, which also helps control the frequency of airway restrictions.
Sexual Dysfunction
Many who experience erectile dysfunction (ED) also have cardiovascular disease, hypertension, or other disorders that restrict blood flow. Regular exercise, which improves heart health, can also improve ED symptoms. Sexual dysfunction may also be linked to hormonal imbalances and exercising regularly can help regulate your hormones so that you are producing the right balance for arousal.
Some forms of sexual dysfunction are psychologically based, and exercise is an excellent treatment for lowering stress, boosting mood, and enhancing self-esteem. All of these can make you feel better and more likely to want to engage in relations with your partner, as well.
Exercise as Prevention
In addition to treating diseases you already have; regular exercise is your first line of defense against developing several severe and chronic health problems. Exercise protects your health in many ways, making it the most important activity you can do besides eat the right foods to improve your health and prevent future diseases.
When you exercise, you release chemicals from your muscles that relax the walls of blood vessels. These chemicals lower your blood pressure, raise your HDL (good) cholesterol levels, lower your LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, move glucose from your blood into your cells, and reduce inflammation. All these effects combine to lower your risk of inflammatory diseases, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and even some types of cancer.
Prevents Heart Disease
Perhaps the greatest preventative effect of exercise is in its ability to prevent nearly all cases of heart disease. Combined with a healthy diet, exercise can keep your heart healthy and strong and save you from developing this life-threatening but preventable disease.
Heart disease is among the leading cause of death in the US, and it’s also almost entirely preventable, but you must be willing to eat right and be active if you want to have a healthy, strong heart.
Lowers Cholesterol
Regular strength training and cardiovascular exercise will lower overall cholesterol levels and help you reduce your LDL levels, as well. Combining exercise with a heart-healthy diet will be critical to enjoying these benefits, but regular exercise will have a significant effect on your lipids if you stick with it. Cholesterol is a leading contributor to heart disease, so it is important to keep it in check.
Lowers Cancer Risk
Exercise can help prevent certain types of cancer from developing. In particular, those who exercise regularly are at far lower risk for developing prostate, colorectal, and breast cancer, and exercise decrease your risk of dying from one of these diseases, as well. If you have cancer, exercise can help improve your quality of life, as well.
Prevents Cold and Flu
Regular exercise boosts your immune system’s function, helping you fight off infections such as a cold or the flu. Those who exercise regularly are also more likely to be sick for shorter periods with less severe symptoms.
Getting Started with Exercise as Medicine
Now that you know all the ways exercise can help your health, prevent disease, and treat many chronic illnesses, it’s time to get moving! But where do you start? Let’s start with the basics and then discuss ways you can add more activity to your daily routine, as well.
Types of Exercises
First, it’s helpful to know the differences in the various types of exercise. Aerobic exercise is what is thought of as “heart pumping” activity. This is when you raise your heart rate to a level that is pushing it beyond its normal, sedentary pace, for 30 minutes or more. It is also known as cardiovascular exercise or just cardio.
This type of activity helps your heart the most, but it also builds your endurance and helps you lose weight. Examples of cardio exercises include swimming, brisk walking, cycling, running, high-intensity interval training (HIIT), and rowing.
Strength training focuses on improving muscle strength and endurance. Strength training makes it easier to carry out everyday tasks and chores, provides stability to all your joints, and slows the decline of strength and stamina as we age. Strength training can involve weights, resistance bands, or even using your own body weight as resistance to work specific muscle groups.
Flexibility exercises help you keep an optimal range of motion in all your joints, allowing you to be more stable, resist falls and other injuries, and enjoy your life more. Flexibility exercises involve stretching and lengthening muscles, and activities like yoga and tai chi are examples of these sorts of moves.
For optimal health and fitness, you want to practice a combination of all three types regularly. You should work on flexibility every day by stretching before and after exercise, but you should also work in at least four sessions of cardiovascular and three sessions of strength training per week. You can combine these together to make efficient use of your workouts, too.
Before starting to exercise, talk with your doctor about any health concerns or limitations. He or she can make recommendations about the intensity and duration that is best for your current health needs.
You need to exercise nearly every day of the week. Just like you brush your teeth and eat food every day, so should you exercise. It’s vital to your health. Aim for half an hour of moderate activity on most days each week to start. Then, once this becomes a habit, increase your time five to ten minutes each week until you reach your goal.
If you have not exercised in a long time or have lost muscle strength or stamina due to an illness, start with less and work up from there. But some exercise is better than no exercise, so be sure you are doing something every day.
Pick activities you enjoy which will make exercise more enjoyable. Try out new forms of exercise until you find several you like, then rotate these so you don’t become bored.
You can also increase the intensity of everyday chores and activities to make these opportunities for fitness, as well. Cleaning, gardening, and running errands all need movement. Just do them faster, with greater intensity, and for longer periods to turn them into a workout.
Join a class or exercise with a friend to make it fun and hold yourself accountable. Tracking your progress is also helpful. Set goals for yourself each week and adjust them as you continue to progress in your fitness capabilities.
Your goal is 30 minutes of physical activity at least five days per week. You can include regular activities such as cleaning and walking longer distances (say to an appointment) but remember that the best exercise is either working your heart, strengthening your muscles, or improving your flexibility. If you need to, break your 30-minute goal into smaller chunks throughout your day, then build to longer sessions as your stamina improves.
Do as much as you can to start and remember that you will improve if you stick with it. Even small amounts of activity can make a significant difference to your health, especially in the beginning, so don’t get discouraged. Move a little more and sit a little less each day, and you’ll start to see the payoff in your health in no time.
Special Considerations
Certain medical conditions may make exercise more challenging or cause your activity to affect you differently. For example. If you have diabetes, exercise will lower your blood sugar. You should closely watch your glucose levels when starting an exercise program.
You may need to adjust insulin or medication dosages as your blood sugar decreases. Eating a snack before working out can help prevent severe dips in glucose levels.
People with arthritis may want to consider a warm shower before exercise to loosen and relax joints and muscles.
If you have heart disease, you want to pay attention to symptoms and signs from your body as you exercise. Stop all activity if you have an irregular heartbeat, chest pain, dizziness, or unusual shortness of breath.
Those with back pain, chronic inflammation, or other pain-causing disorders may want to start with low-impact exercises that are gentler on your joints and offer fewer jolts and strains to your spine and other joints.
Those with asthma should always have a rescue inhaler nearby when exercising.
Final Thoughts
Exercise is a critical part of your overall health. You must exercise regularly if you want to prevent disease, and if you’re going to remain healthy into your golden years, regular activity is a must.
Exercise not only prevents disease but can even be used as an effective treatment for many illnesses, including mental health disorders, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and many more.
If you do not currently get enough exercise, today is a good time to start. Do something active every day. Don’t make excuses for something as important as your health and well-being. There is, after all, nothing more important.
