Exercise Regularly
By MaryAnn Curl, MD MS
You’ve been hearing to develop an active lifestyle since you were a kid. They even say that “sitting is the new smoking” indicating that sedentary lifestyle is this generation’s downfall. While adding activity into your everyday life is a great start, there is some science to guide what type, how much, and how frequently exercise leads to better health outcomes.
The goal here is to increase your “healthspan” - the length of time in your life that you’re able to live disease free or less burdened by the consequences of any disease you are managing.
The first category of exercise to consider is cardiovascular conditioning. Studies show that 75 to 150 minutes per week of vigorous exercise or 150 to 300 minutes each week of moderate physical activity are game changers. Meeting the minimum for moderate and vigorous activity can reduce cardiovascular disease mortality (the risk of dying from a heart attack) by 22% to 31% and decreases cancer risk. https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/public-health/massive-study-uncovers-how-much-exercise-needed-live-longer#:~:text=That's%2075%20to%20150%20minutes,by%2022%25%20to%2031%25.
I personally shoot for 22 minutes of cardiovascular conditioning daily, rotating from walking, heavy gardening (the kind that makes you sweat), rowing, stair climbing, and kayaking. My dogs love it when they get to pitch in to my health by taking me for a walk.
As a middle aged woman, I must say that I’ve fallen deeply in love with resistance training. It’s become my favorite for its numerous health benefits, such as a lower risk of heart disease and diabetes, stronger bones, better brain health and mood, and improved self-esteem. Here is a great article by the American College of Sports Medicine that goes into detail. https://journals.lww.com/acsm-csmr/fulltext/2012/07000/resistance_training_is_medicine__effects_of.13.aspx
The quick list of the virtues of resistance training such as lifting weights and other functional exercises (body weight exercises and calisthenics) include:
• Improved strength and muscle integrity
When you push or pull against resistance, you create tiny tears in your muscle tissue. In response, your muscles repair themselves and build more fibers, a process that can produce more tone and, depending on the person, enhance thickness. This is called “hypertrophy.” Consistency with resistance training makes your muscles stronger, can improve joint function, tendon and ligament strength, and enhance or maintain bone density.
• Cardiovascular health
Resistance training can improve your blood pressure, blood sugar, and blood lipids. It can also increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and decrease low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides. Resistance training improves blood vessel function by keeping your arteries flexible and lowering inflammation. All this added to cardiovascular training can really improve your risk profile.
• Anti-aging hormonal response
Lifting weights triggers your body to release testosterone and human growth hormone (HGH). Testosterone strengthens muscles by boosting protein synthesis and HGH repairs and regenerates tissue. This hormonal response equates to an anti-aging boost that helps stave off age related atrophy (muscle shrinking) and decrease the fatty tissue build up that happens with aging.
When considering your healthspan, not only can exercise help you live unburdened by disease for more of your life, it can change the way diseases you cannot cure are expressed in your body. Cardiovascular training can improve mood and reduce anxiety. It immediately improves utilization of blood glucose and diabetes control. It has been found to improve symptoms from cardiac and pulmonary disease. Resistance training can also support mood and reduce risk of death as well as helping with low back pain, arthritis, and fibromyalgia.
We at Built for Better recommend 150 minutes of moderate cardiovascular exercise weekly combined with resistance exercise for each muscle group twice weekly. We have the following schedule that is attainable and keeps us feeling great:
Sunday - 22 minutes of cardio
Monday and Thursday - chest and triceps resistance. 22 minutes of cardio of choice
Tuesday and Friday - back and biceps resistance. 22 minutes of cardio of choice
Wednesday and Saturday - legs and shoulders resistance. 22 minutes of cardio of choice.
We recommend you get a check up with a physician prior to starting out if you’re going from the couch to being active. The biggest part is to commit and show up! Build your endurance and enhance your workout gradually. Remember, this isn’t a “program” you’ll go on for a while, then off. It’s a lifestyle.
Happy exercising!
