The sun is shining, the grass is green and the birds are chirping. It’s finally summertime in the northern hemisphere – the time of year when most people find it easier to fit in some aerobic exercise. You can venture out to a hiking trail, hit the local pool for some lap swimming or dust off that old bicycle. While you may think of these activities as summertime leisure, the evidence shows they are all extremely beneficial to your health – even more powerful than the latest medicines for treating certain conditions.
Heart disease
Medical study after medical study has found that getting your body moving is good for your heart. Moderate-intensity activities, like walking at a brisk pace or swimming, yield the most beneficial effects. It only takes 30-45 minutes five days a week.
While exercise is beneficial to everyone, sedentary people who become moderately active show the greatest improvements in reduced deaths from cardiovascular disease. Those who started exercising regularly after a heart attack show improved rates of survival.
Cognitive impairment
Alright, most of us already knew that exercise was good for our hearts. But did you also know it’s good for your brain?
A 2008 review of therapies to slow or reverse cognitive decline concluded that aerobic activity enhances cognitive function in older adults. In fact, in one study, researchers at the University of Illinois found that a 5 to 7 percent improvement in cardiovascular fitness corresponded with up to 15 percent improvement on mental tests.
Another study of elderly people diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment found those who enrolled in a six-month exercise program improved their ability to concentrate and carry out complex tasks, while participants who didn’t exercise declined in their performance on those same tasks. Scientists think the improvements have something to do with exercise increasing the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain, improving growth factors that help create new nerve cells and increasing chemicals in the brain that help with cognition.
Depression
Multiple studies have also found that exercise can help prevent and also treat depression and anxiety disorders. The prevention piece is more difficult to prove, but studies show a strong correlation that people who exercise are much less likely to suffer from depression. One study did follow participants for a 15-year-period and found that those with high fitness levels were less likely to become depressed.
The evidence clearly shows that exercise as effective as antidepressant medications for treating depression. Duke University researcher James A. Blumenthal and his colleagues studied 156 older adults diagnosed with major depression, assigning them to receive the antidepressant Zoloft, 30 minutes of exercise three times a week, or both. They found that exercise was equally as effective the prescription medicine, and follow-up studies showed patients who exercised were less likely to regress back into depression.
That’s some clear proof the exercise is good for your body on many levels. So don’t delay – get out there while the sun is shining!
– Sheri Hall
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