The Benefit of Exercise

  I have written in the last year about interesting or exciting innovations like the Cognivue test which is the first and only FDA approved machine to test for dementia. I have written about the Pharmanex scanner to assess your nutritional / antioxidant status. I have written about the chronic care program sponsored by Medicare. These are all up-to-date, next generation/new wave issues but today I want to write about one of the bedrock issues of medicine which is the benefit of exercise. Everyone knows that exercise and eating right are good for you, in fact, it’s so well known that you spend very little time with your doctor discussing it. That’s a shame because the benefits are dramatic and sustainable and I think that the proof of this should be brought up on a regular basis.

The benefits of exercise are dramatic and sustainable and I think that the proof of this should be brought up on a regular basis.

We doctors have recommended a lot of things that in the end didn’t turn out to be true or meaningful. We told her to avoid eggs and that isn’t right. We told you to cut down the meat and the fats in your diet and that’s wrong as well. Years ago and still recently we said increase the carbohydrates in your diet and we know how wrong that is. We used to use leeches, we still do but in medically appropriate setting now. So If I’m going to recommend something I’d better back it up with up to date science.

Let’s start with exercise and dementia in the February 2017 Mayo Clinics proceedings they did a test of 6000 veterans to assess for exercise capacity and the association with dementia and cognitive impairment. The researchers found that “exercise capacity is strongly associated with cognitive function.“ The more you exercise the better your brain testing was. Since dementia
is considered in some circles to be the #3 cause of death In America, this alone should be strong impetus to get on a good exercise program and to stay on it.

Another article from the Mayo Clinic from January 2017 assessed cardiovascular fitness and the likelihood of having an adverse cardiovascular event that is stroke or heart attack or sudden death. This test involved 20,000 US veterans more than half of whom are African-American. This study followed these men for 11 years. The research found that there was a very direct correlation between exercise capacity and adverse cardiovascular events. -The more fit you were the less likely a heart attack or stroke etc. The difference in mortality between the least fit and the most fit was quite dramatic.

Finally, the American Journal of medicine in 2016 published study that evaluated the impact of cardiorespiratory fitness levels on the risk of developing atherosclerosis -(hardening of the arteries). As you know the conventional wisdom is that the higher your cholesterol the more hardening of the arteries you’ll have. Hardening of the arteries leads to strokes and heart attack.

The more fit you were the less likely a heart attack or stroke etc. The difference in mortality between the least fit and the most fit was quite dramatic.

They basically followed people like myself with very high cholesterol levels who were also vigorous exercisers to see if the vigorous exercise could counteract the effects of the high cholesterol levels. They found, in fact, that if you had regular vigorous exercise it was amazingly protective of the heart despite the high cholesterol levels.

So, three articles published within the last year all confirm the various benefits of exercise. It protects the brain. It protects the heart. You don’t have to belong to a gym to get good exercise. Of course in this part of the country the other important thing to remember is that you have to weatherproof your exercise. So many people tell me that they don’t get out of the house much in the winter. Imagine leaving your car in the garage over the winter and trying to start it reliably come spring. There are many places like Destiny, Wal-Mart and Wegmans that have been enclosed areas you can walk in. Soon with Uber coming you won’t have any excuses left.

The great thing about exercise is it doesn’t really require prescription from the doctor. It doesn’t require special outfits. It doesn’t require special training places. It doesn’t require hours and hours of your time every day. You can do it alone or you can do it with other people. You can do it indoor or out. You can do it daytime or nighttime. There is no real reason that you can’t get started today to improve itself a little bit every day physically and for that matter mentally.

Next month we will again bring you something cutting edge, at least for Syracuse. Until then get well and stay well.

The great thing about exercise is it doesn’t really require prescription from the doctor. There is no real reason that you can’t get started today to improve itself a little bit every day physically and for that matter mentally.

Dr. Barry