10 Minutes To Extend Your Life!

These photos are updated and combined from 1942 and 1962 by Gjon Mili for LIFE magazine. 

For those of you who have read my blogs for a while or who know me, you will know that I love exercise. I like sweat. I like challenging my body, my mind, and my spirit to do more than I think it can.  As part of my practice in the natural health world I have always recommended exercise in conjunction with other lifestyle adjustments.   I have also had to come to a realization that there's a whole lot of you out there who do not like exercise at all!

 I just finished reading the new Time Magazine article, "The New Science of Exercise" and if the results of the studies being sighted in this article are not enough to get you doing some form of physical activity on a regular basis, nothing is!

 The pendulum is finally swinging the other way and younger people in particular are trying to be more natural and more healthy.   I think they know that there's got to be a better way to live.  The first comprehensive study on the striking benefits of exercise is being done now and it's sponsored by the NIH (The National Institute of Health)   If you study medicine and body movement as far back as Hippocrates (400BC) who is known as the father of medicine, you will find that humans have always known, almost instinctively, that exercise is good for them.

Can't do anything about the loose skin but weight-lifting keeps me strong at 60!

 Fast forward to the very early 1900's when a couple of very wealthy families in the USA found a way to sell medicine and make a ton of money.   The story just goes on and gets worse from there.  Here we are in 2016 and people are fatter, sicker, more miserable than ever.  Alcoholism and drug abuse (prescribed drugs as well),  to name just two addictions, are epidemic and things don't seem to be getting any better.  The latest fad diet books are still best-sellers and even for people who do exercise, they just can't lose the weight they should for their health.   Bad, fake food is the culprit combined with too much sugar and /or too many calories.  It  doesn't matter if you ride a bike, hike, play sports, or do any kind of strenuous exercise that burns, say 500 calories a workout.  If you are eating even 600 calories more than you should for optimum health, you are going to start putting on weight.  The latest studies on exercise don't show that it causes weight loss unless it's combined with a healthy diet.

So what does this Time Magazine breakthrough article called, "The New Science of Exercise" say then?  What is the good news?  First off, you need to buy the magazine and read it (I tried to download and provide a link here but they want me to subscribe and I already get the paper copy)  I am providing a few of the stand-out facts from the article below.  These are direct quotes from the genetic metabolic neurologist who is co-leading the study.


 
1)  "The most  effective, potent way that we can improve quality of life and duration of life is exercise." 
2)  "If there was a drug that could do for human health everything that exercise can, it would likely be the most valuable pharmaceutical ever developed."   This comment is made after the study of the blood of subjects being drawn and looked at right after completing exercise.
3)  "The scientific benefits of exercise mean slower aging, better mood, less chronic pain, stronger vision, and the list goes on.  These results are real, measurable, and almost immediate."
4)  "Medicine shifted it's focus from the prevention of disease to it's treatment.  In the 1905 Journal of The American Medical Association the authors reported that they mourned how many people were losing sight of the health benefits of exercise."
5)  In this study, "they think they will be able to identify every single molecule in the body that is tweaked or turned-on by exercise."
6)  If you are willing to do HIIT  (high intensity interval training) you will gain the benefits of exercise in as little as 10 mins!  Most are not willing to do "intensive" training because it's just too hard.  I think it's fun and also very effective if you have only a small window in your day. in which to get in your exercise.     I have written a bit about this is the past.  You can read one of my older blogs on "quick"  exercise here.
7)  "Standing more and sitting less is linked to a lower risk of cancer, diabetes, and early death from any cause."
8)  "You can't just walk, you have to do some kind of weight-bearing exercise to reap all the benefits."
9)  "Even very ill people can benefit from exercise.  It can help them get well!
10)  "Some of the best results of the benefits of exercise don't require a gym membership at all."

So if the above was just too much for you because you just do not like exercise,  I am sorry but "it's the facts, only the facts."

Let me know if there is some way I can help you with your health.  Besides being a nutritionist I also hold a second-degree black belt in TaeKwonDo and I love teaching about high intensity, short burst exercises as incorporated in a healthy diet and lifestyle.

 Donna@DonnaSchuller.com