Exercise Prevents, Treats, Or Cures Basically Everything
Last edited Wed Jan 1, 2014, 04:58 PM - Edit history (2)
If there were a drug that treated and prevented the chronic diseases that afflict Americans and we didn't give it to everyone, we’d be withholding a magic pill. If this drug was free, in a country that spends more than $350 billion annually on prescription drugs, where the average 80-year-old takes eight medications, we’d be foolish not to encourage this cheaper and safer alternative as first-line treatment. If every doctor in every country around the world didn’t prescribe this drug for every patient, it might almost be considered medical malpractice.
We have that drug today, and it’s safe, free, and readily available.
Exercise has benefits for every body system; it is effective both as a treatment and for prevention of disease. It can improve memory and concentration, lessen sleep disorders, aid heart disease by lowering cholesterol and reducing blood pressure, help sexual problems such as erectile dysfunction, and raise low libido. Exercise does it all. Even with cancer, particularly colon and recurrent breast cancer, the data show clearly that exercise is a deterrent. Newer studies on a glycoprotein called Interleukin 6 suggests that general body inflammation, a factor in almost every chronic disease, is reduced by regular exercise.
The United States currently spends more than $2.7 trillion, roughly 17 percent of GDP, on a health care system that is financially incentivized to treat disease. The more tests that are run on patients, the more medicines that are dispensed, the more procedures that are performed, the greater the financial burden for us all. Despite far outspending any country in health care, the United States is currently ranked 28th in life expectancy. Our current system does very little to encourage preventive health. We are mortgaging our country’s financial future to pay for increasingly expensive treatments for the same diseases we could effectively delay or prevent.
There probably is such a thing as too much exercise, but I’m much more worried about inactivity. As my colleague Bob Sallis, past president of the American College of Sports Medicine says, “Lack of fitness is the public health epidemic of our time.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2013/12/exercise_to_prevent_cure_or_treat_disease_cancer_heart_disease_inflammation.html
On Edit: The headline I selected is the one used at Digg. It's sensationalistic, but reflects the reality that most people would be measurably healthier, if only they would get regular exercise. And many common ailments, that were death sentences a generation ago, can be reversed. The headline at Slate is virtually meaningless.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Once upon a time that was normal. My old Ukrainian Baba nursed her kids for 2-3 years, as did I. Most pediatric societies recommend it (here in Canada it says: "exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life and continued breastfeeding with appropriate complementary foods for up to two years and beyond."
Response to frazzled (Reply #1)
Severe asthma attacks often happen WITH exercise. Doctors don't yet understand why.
This article is misleading and (for asthmatics at least), dangerous.
"with slow buildup over time, you can increase your exercise capacity."
That's not necessarily true at all and seems to be saying that if a person just persisted ("slowly" yes, and "over time" that it was a given they'd increase their exercise capacity. Yes those were my words "bully through" the breathing difficulties but I thought that mainer's post was implying much the same thing.
You know oftentimes the "condition" doesn't ameliorate on its own. You have to increase the steroid dosages to counteract the asthma worsening from the exercise. More exercise=more steroids=other health problems and around and around it goes.
I DO exercise every day. I have to. I own and operate a 40 horse training farm so I intimately know and understand how exercise works on my body with this condition but I "pay" for that exercise by taking massive doses of steroids which have their own problems. Which is why I see the top guy in the area who admits even HE doesn't have all the solutions for exercise induced asthma. The MORE exercise I do, even incrementally, over time, "slowly", the worse my asthma gets.
Unless you're an MD with knowledge of an individual's asthma, dispensing exercise advice to people with asthma over the internet is a bad idea. YMMV.
tell you they can "cure" you with whatever they are ranting and raving about?
Steroids can help, but the side effects are horrendous. I've had to go on them before. They helped my De Quervain's Syndrome a lot, but wrecked my system for a while.
I hope they can find something that will alleviate your symptoms better in the future. 
I participate in a high intensity, high risk sport. And its killing me.
My docs are in agreement that it must stop but try telling those who think "exercise" must be the cure-all.
I 110% agree that Americans are too sedentary. The OP's headline and facile approach just got my goat on behalf of me, you and others who are in weirdly nuanced medical conditions.
Well alriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiightie then.
I'll let the folks at cancer treatment center know.
As a former theoretical linguist and a long-time editor, I will concur that "basically" in this context is an intensifier, similar to the overused "virtually" (as in "virtually everything" .
But hey, those who accuse others of "binary thinking" (whatever that is: maybe it's the old Marxist dialectical thinking, a good thing! Hegel approves!) are not going to get this, being tied, as they are, to one-track thinking.
I'm caring for my niece and nephew, always concerned it may turn up in them
I'm all for exercise being encouraged and supported more--actually, a LOT more, in our society. But with or without the "basically" I find this article to be hyperbolic.
I think there are a subset of folks (I am not necessarily talking about the OP or any DU person) to think that because exercise has played such a major role in their life, it would make everyone else's life great too. It often seems like any disagreement gets treated as if the person is lazy or not active enough. Overall, there is at least a subset of those in the exercise camp who bully and demean anyone who doesn't live a very active lifestyle, and all it does is make being active less attainable or desirable.
I do think the cries of "binary thinking" every time someone disagrees with the premise of this article just seem like more of the same.
I think things like ensuring that our schools foster healthy physical ed programs and stop cutting recess back to 20 minutes or less should be a priority. I think a shift to building publicly accessible and maintained playing fields, parks and playgrounds instead of arenas and stadiums needs to occur. I'd personally like to see an effort to get adults to "play", as an emphasis on sports or weight lifting leaves a lot of adults out. It'd be great to see a shift in phys ed programs to, to reflect the reality that some people are never going to be interested in weights or running or sports for their own sake. There are lots of things to try, so why are we always encouraging the same few things?
Response to Tien1985 (Reply #64)
