Why exercise is the best medicine

Vibrant Life, Nov-Dec, 2001 by Victor M. Parachin

Between 50 and 70 million Americans suffer, from headaches each year. Many of those headache sufferers often turn to medication or retire to a dark room waiting for the pain to go away. However, other headache sufferers are finding relief by taking a proactive approach. Before headaches strike, they engage in aerobic exercise.

Their results are impressive: people who engage in aerobic exercise get fewer headaches, their headaches are less severe, and they have less of a need for serious drug-therapy programs. "People who regularly walk briskly or jog have reported dramatic improvements in their headaches," declare Dr. Alan M. Rapoport and Dr. Fred D. Sheftell, founders and directors of the New England Center for Headache in Stamford, Connecticut, and authors of several books about headaches.

An increasing body of scientific evidence points to the fact that exercise is the best medicine. For example, a recent Consumer Reports survey of more than 46,000 people found exercise to be almost as effective as--and sometimes more effective than--prescription medications for nonmedical problems. Participants also favored exercise over many alternative therapies, such as massage, herbs, and acupuncture. In the study exercise scored better than other natural remedies for allergies, depression, high cholesterol, insomnia, and respiratory infections. Mere are 10 other reports that clearly show that exercise is a natural remedy that really works:

1. If you're a woman, you can leave the blues behind.

When mild depression strikes, one of the most effective antidotes is to lace up your sneakers. Researchers studied more than 7,000 people and found that women who logged more than 11 miles a week exercising on foot were less likely to feel depressed or have symptoms of depression such as feeling sad, fatigued, worthless, or unable to think or concentrate. And all it took to fill that prescription was three miles four days a week. It didn't seem to matter how those miles were covered. Walking, jogging, and running all seemed to produce the same "mood-lifting" benefit. Other studies demonstrate that exercise is a mood elevator for men as well as women.

2. If you're a man, exercise makes you feel young and "frisky" again.

Recently British researchers compared 10 men (55 to 65 years of age) who ran at least 40 miles a week with 10 sedentary men of the same age. They found that the runners had higher levels of certain hormones. Testoster-one was 25 percent higher. The growth hormone, which helps maintain muscle and bone, was four times higher. The London study author, Steven Hurel, Ph.D., says that any level of regular exercise can produce similar benefits for men.

3. Exercise can slow, stop, and even reverse clogged arteries.

Louis Harris, the noted pollster and public-opinion analyst, enjoyed good health until he was 72 (often competing in tennis against people 30 years younger). "I thought I was immune to the gradual physical decline that age seemed to inflict on others," he says. Then during a tennis game as he raced in to return the ball, a burning, knifelike pain suddenly shot into both his calves. It spread up to his thighs, and his legs went numb. Although that incident passed, Louis discovered that he could walk only two city blocks before his feet tingled and grew numb and his legs cramped with excruciating pain.

Consulting a vascular surgeon, Harris learned he had occlusions in the femoral arteries of both legs. It was caused by a buildup of plaque that extended all the way up to his aorta. Although surgery could correct the problem, the doctor strongly recommended Harris begin walking at least one mile every day.

"I think your body will cure the clogged-artery problem by itself," the surgeon said. He explained that daily walking would prompt the muscles to send out signals for more blood flow. Very slowly, over time, the body would respond by making new arteries called collaterals. Those collaterals would bypass the blocked arteries just as surgery would. "It may take more than a year to grow new collaterals, but you can do it," he advised Harris.

Harris began walking. Although it was extremely difficult, he struggled by walking in two-block increments and then resting. He persevered and was soon able to walk several miles at a time. Harris never needed the surgery. One year later he said: "I have found a new purpose in life as well. I tell others who are in the predicament I was in to walk. They should ask their doctor whether they, too, could avoid invasive surgery by doing something as simple as walking. The healing powers of our bodies are there, just waiting to be used."

4. For women, exercise reduces the risk of premenopausal breast cancer.

A study of more than 1,000 California women found that moderate but regular physical activity can reduce premenopausal breast cancer by as much as 60 percent. Women who exercised for four hours a week by engaging in such activities as jogging, swimming laps, or playing tennis had the greatest risk reduction. But even two or three hours of activity proved beneficial.