Exercise as Medicine - Mind and Body Benefits of Regular Exercise

By now we should all know that exercise is good for us, but the number of people who engage in regular exercise is still a small minority. But what if your doctor prescribed 5 hours of exercise a week? Would you do it? Would you do it if you knew it would improve symptoms for very specific illnesses or conditions, one of which you have?

The current trend in exercise research seems to be assessing the benefits of exercise, and specific forms of exercise, for specific health issues. For example, we now are fully convinced that aerobic exercise in particular is very effective in reducing the symptoms of mild to moderate depression. We also know that weight training is more beneficial than aerobic exercise for osteoporosis/osteopinea and also for diabetes, type II.

Below are links to several articles from just the last week or so that highlight the benefits of exercise for specific health concerns, both physical and psychological. I'll give a little blurb from each piece, but follow the title link to see the whole article.

Exercise Improves School Performance For Kids With ADHD

17 Oct 2012

Children with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) may perform better in school after just twenty minutes of exercise.

The finding, published in the Journal of Pediatrics, came from a team of experts at Michigan State University who have demonstrated for the first time that kids withADHD can focus better and become less distracted after a quick session of exercise. This is significant because "inhibitory control" is the biggest struggle people with the disorder have to deal with.

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Research Shows Exercise As Key In Reducing Body Fat While Preserving Muscle

Article Date: 17 Oct 2012

Exercise and healthy eating reduce body fat and preserve muscle in adults better than diet alone, according to a study funded and conducted by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health. The study was recently published online in Obesity and will be in a future print edition.

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Exercise could fortify immune system against future cancers

posted on: October 11, 2012

WESTMINSTER, CO (October 10, 2012)—Researchers may soon be able to add yet another item to the list of exercise's well-documented health benefits: A preliminary study suggests that when cancer survivors exercise for several weeks after they finish chemotherapy, their immune systems remodel themselves to become more effective, potentially fending off future incidences of cancer. The finding may help explain why exercise can significantly reduce the chances of secondary cancers in survivors or reduce the chances of cancer altogether in people who have never had the disease.

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Minutes of hard exercise can lead to all-day calorie burn

posted on: October 11, 2012

WESTMINSTER, CO (October 10, 2012)—Time spent in the drudgery of strenuous exercise is a well-documented turn-off for many people who want to get in better shape. In a new study, researchers show that exercisers can burn as many as 200 extra calories in as little as 2.5 minutes of concentrated effort a day—as long as they intersperse longer periods of easy recovery in a practice known as sprint interval training. The finding could make exercise more manageable for would-be fitness buffs by cramming truly intense efforts into as little as 25 minutes.

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Exercise helps ease premature cardiovascular aging caused by type 2 diabetes

posted on: October 11, 2012

WESTMINSTER, CO (October 10, 2012)—One of life's certainties is that everyone ages. However, it's also certain that not everyone ages at the same rate. According to recent research being presented this week, the cardiovascular system of people with type 2 diabetes shows signs of aging significantly earlier than those without the disease. However, exercise can help to slow down this premature aging, bringing the aging of type 2 diabetes patients' cardiovascular systems closer to that of people without the disease, says researcher Amy Huebschmann of the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She will be presenting these findings she developed with colleagues Wendy Kohrt and Judith Regensteiner, both from the same institution.

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The Impact of Aerobic Exercise on Crohn’s and Colitis

By Travis Saunders, MSc, CEP
Posted: October 17, 2012

Today’s guest post comes from Dede Cummings. You can find out more about Dede at the bottom of this post. To learn how to submit your own guest post to Obesity Panacea, click here.

As a Crohn’s patient, who suffered in silence for over ten years, I found exercise to be the last thing I wanted to do, especially when I was experiencing the symptoms of a moderate case, such as diarrhea, vomiting, and fatigue. To me, during this time, exercise existed in the past tense. I had been quite a “jock” in high school, earning varsity letters in three sports. In college, I played two sports and recreational soccer my first year. When my symptoms started in the Spring of my first year, exercise (in my case, competitive sports) was the first thing I let go of.

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Diet, Exercise May Boost 'Good' Cholesterol, Study Suggests

Benefits of lifestyle changes go beyond weight loss for diabetes patients, researcher says

HEALTHDAY ON OCT 11, 2012 

THURSDAY, Oct. 11 (HealthDay News) -- For overweight people with diabetes, intensive exercise and dieting not only aids weight loss, it can also help train their fat cells to produce a hormone believed to boost production of "good" cholesterol, according to a new study.

And this so-called "good" cholesterol, or HDL cholesterol, has been linked to positive effects for cardiovascular health.

The new study, from researchers at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, included data on overweight and obese people with type 2 diabetes who were taking part in a multicenter clinical trial examining how increased physical activity and reduced calorie intake affected their risk for cardiovascular disease.