OK, you got me! There isn’t such a thing as a magic pill for perfect health….BUT, there might be something close. What if I said there was a pill you could take 4 to 6 times per week that would do the following:
- Significantly reduce your risk of getting darn near all chronic diseases: diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, arthritis, osteoporosis, etc.
- Increase your life expectancy.
- Reduce your risk of viral and bacterial infection by strengthening your immune system.
- Improve your body’s ability to protect you from environmental toxins.
- Eliminate age-related muscle loss so you can maintain your strength as you age (this is a huge factor for elderly quality of life).
- Improve your daily energy levels.
- Improve your sleep.
- Increase your cognitive functioning so you can be more productive with your increased energy levels.
Plus, the only side effect of this magic pill is that it would give you more muscle, less fat, and you would be stronger, faster, and have more endurance. Oh ya, it will also improve your sex life! Who in their right mind wouldn’t take this pill?
Does This Magic Pill for Health Truly Exist?
I don’t mean to burst the utopian bubble I created but, surprise, surprise, this magic pill for health is actually…wait for it…EXERCISE! Some of you may already know this, but there is a surprising amount of people who have no clue what all the benefits of exercise are, they think it is just for people who want to look better. Honestly, weight/fat loss is mainly achieved through healthy nutrition and diet; exercise simply adds a helping hand. In reality, it’s not just the weight loss, it’s the rest of the above-listed benefits of exercise that prove everyone should be doing some strenuous exercising 4 to 6 times per week, and low-level exercise (ex. getting 10,000 steps) 7 days per week.
One fact about exercise drives my point home and it involves taking an evolutionary point of view. We know that our hunter gatherer ancestors, up until the last 100 years or so, were very active. Based on the bone structure of human hunter-gatherer fossils, we know that they were probably more active than modern-day athletes. Therefore, our bodies are built to move and exercise and because we evolved in an environment that required lots of physical activity, our bodies evolved to expect and need exercise to be optimally healthy. So, when we don’t exercise, it negatively impacts the normal physiological functioning of our body.
Hurt vs Harm and I Am Too Out of Shape for Intense Exercise
To be very blunt, any reason provided for not exercising is an excuse…period! Sorry y’all. The being said, intense exercise is relative. Meaning that you must take into account your current fitness level, medical diagnoses, non-fitness related physical limitations, etc. to come up with what safe, intense exercise is for you and what low-level exercise is for you. For instance, intense exercise for a healthy person who lifts weights 4 times a week and does interval running 2 times a week would be vastly different than someone who just had a heart attack or someone who is obese and hasn’t done anything more demanding than walking for 10 years. But there is no reason not to start exercising immediately and maybe eventually build your fitness to something like the first person I provided as an example above.
Yes, intense exercise can hurt, it’s difficult while you do it and if you push yourself above the expectations of your body (this is something called overload and you will not get fitter if you don’t have slight overload in your fitness routine) it will hurt for a couple of days…this is called delayed onset muscle soreness, learn to love it, it is a sign that you worked hard, so be proud.
That being said, we can push ourselves too hard in a workout or even train too intense for too many days which can be detrimental to the body. This is called overtraining and can have the opposite effect we want from exercise. However, most people will not fall into an overtraining category unless they aren’t honest with themselves about their fitness level and start exercising at an intensity they are not ready for. Most other over-trainers are typically athletes, very driven people, and people who are obsessed/addicted to exercise, these people are not the norm.
Creating Your Exercise Plan for Better Health
First and foremost, some exercise is better than no exercise, so if you can’t do any intense exercise 3–4 times per week, it’s not an excuse not to walk 10,000 steps every day. Exercise isn’t an all or nothing thing, so start doing something immediately. Secondly, finding a type of exercise you enjoy is also important. Not everyone enjoys running or cycling or high-intensity interval classes or Crossfit or powerlifting or sports, but there is almost always something you will like to do, even if you don’t think you will like it…try it first! Saying I don’t like any type of exercise is just another excuse. Our bodies crave exercise and you may be shocked at what you end up liking!
Because of individual preferences and abilities, I cannot provide an exercise plan for everyone in this article, but here are my general suggestions for what should be part of a quality exercise plan. Always talk to your healthcare professional before starting any new exercise routine.
- Lifting Heavy Things 2–4 Times/Week: Muscle mass/strength may be one of the key factors for quality of life for the elderly. Aside from cognitive functioning, physical ability is essential for independence in our later years. So, if you don’t want your family worrying you can’t take care of yourself because you can’t walk around your house without a cane or walker so they put you in a nursing home, you better get some muscle and keep it until you drop dead! I’m too old is just another excuse not to exercise. Lifting weights, bodyweight exercises, safely lifting anything heavy (tires, logs, rocks, cement block, etc.) are all options, just learn proper form from someone who knows what they are doing if you don’t have experience.
- Intense Cardiovascular Exercise 2–4 Times/Week: Medium to long-distance running can fall into this category but if you are like me, distance running isn’t your cup of tea. I am more into high-intensity interval training like sprinting or weightlifting/bodyweight exercise circuits in the gym. Most sports fall into this category also. Remember cardiovascular training is something that gets the heart pumping fast and you can most definitely do this with weight training and bodyweight training. Lift lighter weights faster in a circuit with 3–5 exercises and try not to rest as you progress through multiple rounds of the circuit. Talk about a cardio burn!
- Low-intensity Exercise Every Day!: This one is obvious, try for 10,000 steps each day or the equivalent. If you don’t like to walk you can ride a bike or choose a moving activity of your choice just make sure it is low intensity for you. Meaning you should be able to keep a conversation while doing the activity.
Exercise Will Give Me Arthritis When I’m Old, That’s Not Healthy
There is some truth to the belief that athletes are at a higher risk of developing osteoarthritis. Individuals who were high-level athletes up to middle age have somewhere in the neighbourhood of 8 times the risk of osteoarthritis in older age because of previous cartilage injuries and general stress on joint cartilage. However, what you may not hear about is that the increased risk is due to a couple of things; first is not allowing injuries to heal properly, and most importantly, ceasing physical activity after the end of one’s athletic/training career (usually around middle age). Joint movement and mobility are essential for the health of joint cartilage and without continued movement, the joints will deteriorate. In fact, in a study from 2014, the researchers concluded that with regards to joint health, “The greatest threat to the health of the aging athlete is not the aging process itself but rather inactivity. Motion is critical to articular cartilage health, repair, and homeostasis. The application of constant compressive loading is important to maintain the normal structure of articular cartilage. Regular to moderate physical activity leads to improvements in the biomechanical and biological properties of articular cartilage”. Basically, aging doesn’t cause joint problems, inactivity causes joint problems!
Exercise IS Health
To wrap this article up as simply as possible: we are meant to move, and move often, until the day we drop dead. Exercise is the magic pill for health.
