Exercise and Extend Your Life!

Changing lifestyles, workload, stress and ready-made meals encourage inactivity and harm health. Years of research show inactivity and unhealthy diets dominated by convenience foods cause increasingly common cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, joint disease and cancer, particularly colon and breast cancer.

Studies demonstrate regular exercise and fitness reduce inactivity-related disease and premature mortality and provide psychological and cognitive benefits beyond physical ones

An inactive woman exercising less than 1 hour weekly has, compared with an active woman, %52 higher all-cause premature mortality risk, %29 higher cancer mortality and %26 higher cardiovascular mortality risk. Risks decrease as activity increases. Even small regular increases substantially improve health and proportionately reduce risks.

Body mass index being high, burning 500 kcal weekly (approximately an hour of running) reduces the risk of Type-2 diabetes, the commonest diabetes type, by %6. At least 150 minutes weekly was found as effective against diabetes as metformin . Regular walking at least 2 hours weekly also reduced premature mortality by %34-53 in diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Regular Exercise Particularly Benefits Colorectal and Breast Cancer

Active people have %30-40 lower colon cancer risk, and active women %20-30 lower breast cancer risk. Compared with inactive women, exercise also reduces cancer death and recurrence risk by %26-40.

Resistance exercise particularly benefits bone mineral content and reduces fractures, especially after menopause when estrogen’s bone effects decline.

Exercise increases BDNF (Brain derived protein), improving thinking speed, decision-making and learning.

Beyond physical benefits, exercise also has mental benefits. Increased norepinephrine reduces stress; endorphin release promotes happiness and relaxation. Regular exercise is therefore strongly recommended in depression.

Another effect is helping control smoking and similar addictionsby regulating the increased dopamine release caused by these addictions, thereby helping bring addiction under control. For these exercise benefits to occur, it must be regularity and appropriate duration.

Weekly energy expenditure of 1000 kcal (approximately 2 hours cycling or 2 hours running) reduces all-cause premature mortality by %20-30, while 2000 kcal or more weekly substantially improves quality of life.