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I subscribe to a number of health and fitness newsletters to keep up with the latest information on maintaining good health. I have always been a big proponent of using exercise as a preventative method for many of the ailments people get as they age. I caution people that exercise is not necessarily a cure of a health problem with a few exceptions, such as obesity. This week there was an article in the ‘Consumer Reports On Health’ newsletter that emphasized the importance of exercise in preventing some health problems.
The first health problem mentioned was prediabetes. The article mentioned that it was only a small percentage that have prediabetic symptoms actually develop diabetes. The problem is that diabetes is a very prevalent disease and the number of people that have this disease seems to keep growing. The last paragraph listed a recommendation of, “opt for lifestyle changes.” The next sentence mentioned, “Increase your exercise and try to lose weight.” There was that word “exercise” again.
Listed in the health problems was prehypertension. This is in regards to a person’s blood pressure. For years the standard level was 140/90. Now the standard is 120/80 or below. Much over that and the blood pressure is listed at “elevated.” Reading the steps to help correct this health problem sounded familiar. Making lifestyle changes is the first step. This was followed by regular exercise, losing weight, quitting smoking and drinking less alcohol. Diet changes with an emphasis on fruit, vegetables, and whole grains and less saturated fat and sodium (salt) was also mentioned.
While the problem of osteoporosis is usually directed at women, men also can suffer from this bone weakening problem. As the population gets older one of the most common causes of death is falls. Osteopenia is the precursor of osteoporosis and can be detected by bone density tests at a physician’s office. While osteoporosis is not a major cause of fractures in women (16%) it is a concern in other areas. Then the article listed steps to follow for correcting osteopenia. Exercise in the form of weight-bearing physical activity — including walking, jogging, and strength training — encourages bone growth. Stopping smoking and increasing fatty fish, dark green vegetables, and fortified dairy food was part of the lifestyle changes recommended.
Listed in the early health problems was dyslipidemia (cholesterol level). Cholesterol levels have been connected to heart disease and if the count is high medications are often prescribed. If the risk is low for having a heart attack with a cholesterol problem the recommended prescription was exercise, lose weight, and improve your diet. There was that word, “exercise,” again.
It was a very interesting article that followed the exercise for prevention of health problems theory. I turned the page to find another article that added to the exercise advice. The article was titled, “Be Kind To Your Kidneys.” Lifestyle changes were once again mentioned in possible treatments. Among the changes mentioned was to watch taking too many pain medications such as ibuprofen (Advil), and naproxen (Aleve) as these over the counter medications can raise your CKD risk. Another recommendation is to limit the amount of alcohol a person drinks. One drink limit per day for women and two drinks per day for men was the recommendation. Diet changes included limiting the amount of red meat a person should consume. The article mentioned eating plant proteins such as beans and soy to help. Other articles have recommended substituting fish or chicken as the substitute for red meat. And the advice of stop smoking was listed again. Near the end of the article the recommendations for pain was to try acetaminophen (Tylenol). Next on the list of recommendations was exercise regularly. People with CKD who did aerobic or strength training three times a week for 12 weeks reported improvements in symptoms.
The next article in the newsletter I needed to read before my article last week. The article was, “How to Get in Shape on a Treadmill”. About the only thing that I had omitted was that many of the newer models also have a heart monitor attached to it. If the machine does not have a heart monitor, the article recommended strapping on a chest heart monitor when exercising. This is especially important for an individual that has had a heart attack and needs to regulate the heart rate to make sure that a dangerous level is not reached.
The fact that three articles in the newsletter mentioned the importance of exercise and a lifestyle change to improve a person’s health just emphasized how important exercise is in a person’s daily life. And yet, while research and studies have shown how important exercise is to health, the number of people who exercise on a regular basis are in the minority. If 67% of the population is overweight and obese and the cost of health care can be reduced with a prescription of exercise, we need to start taking exercise a little more seriously.
