Researchers find exercise often works just as well as drugs for the treatment of heart disease and stroke, and the prevention of diabetes. Exercise is medicine.
Longer Life Within Walking Distance
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
“Physical inactivity [has been called] the biggest public health problem of the 21st century.” Of course, just because someone calls it that doesn’t mean it’s true. In fact, physical inactivity ranks down at #5 in terms of risk factors for death, and #6 in terms of risk factors for disability. Diet is by far our greatest killer, followed by smoking.
But still, “there is irrefutable evidence of the effectiveness of regular physical activity in the…prevention of several chronic diseases (…cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, hypertension, obesity, depression and osteoporosis) [as well as] premature death, adding an additional one or two years onto our lifespan—helping to “add years to [our] life”, and, above all, “life to [our] years.” It truly may be survival of the fittest.
How much do we need to exercise? In general, the answer is the more the better. “Currently, most health and fitness organizations advocate a minimum of” a thousand calories burned of exercise a week, which is like walking an hour a day, five days a week. But, seven days a week may be even better in terms of extending one’s lifespan. Moderate intensity can be practically defined by the “Talk but Not Sing Test,” where you can still “carry on a conversation but would feel breathless if trying to sing.”
Exercise is so important that not walking an hour a day is considered a “high-risk” behavior, alongside smoking, excess drinking, and being obese. Having any one of these effectively ages us three to five years in terms of risk of dying prematurely—though, interestingly, those that ate green vegetables on a daily basis did not appear to have that same bump in risk. But, even if broccoli-eating couch potatoes do live as long as walkers, there are a multitude of ancillary health benefits to physical activity—so much so, that doctors are encouraged to prescribe it, “to signal [to the patient] that exercise is medicine.” In fact, powerful medicine.
Researchers at the London School, Harvard, and Stanford compared exercise to drug interventions, and found that exercise often worked just as well as drugs for the treatment of heart disease and stroke, and the prevention of diabetes. Of course, there’s not a lot of money to fund exercise studies, so one option would be to require drug companies to compare any new drug to exercise. “In cases where drug options provide only modest benefit, patients deserve to understand the relative impact that physical activity might have on their condition.” We could throw diet into the mix, too. Yes, the FDA could tell drug companies, your new drug beats out placebo, but, does it work as well as kale?
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- V Gremeaux, M Gayda, R Lepers, P Sosner, M Juneau, A Nigam. Exercise and longevity. Maturitas 2012 73(4):312 – 317.
- D E R Warburton, C W Nicol, S S D Bredin. Health benefits of physical activity: The evidence. CMAJ 2006 174(6):801 – 809.
- D E R Warburton, C W Nicol, S S D Bredin. Prescribing exercise as preventive therapy. CMAJ 2006 174(7):961 – 974.
- J Crookham. A guide to exercise prescription. Prim. Care 2013 40(4):801 - 20vii.
- K M Khan, R Weiler, S N Blair. Prescribing exercise in primary care. BMJ 2011 343:d4141.
- S N Blair. Physical inactivity: The biggest public health problem of the 21st century. British journal of sports medicine 2009 43(1):1 – 2.
- H Naci, J P A Ioannidis. Comparative effectiveness of exercise and drug interventions on mortality outcomes: Metaepidemiological study. BMJ 2013 347:f5577.
- The state of US health, 1990-2010: Burden of diseases, injuries, and risk factors. JAMA 2013 310(6):591 – 608.
- Tsubono Y, Koizumi Y, Nakaya N, Fujita K, Takahashi H, Hozawa A, Suzuki Y, Kuriyama S, Tsuji I, Fukao A, Hisamichi S. Health practices and mortality in Japan: combined effects of smoking, drinking, walking and body mass index in the Miyagi Cohort Study. J Epidemiol. 2004 Feb;14 Suppl 1:S39-45.
Images thanks to Nemo via Pixabay
- aging
- alcohol
- alternative medicine
- blood pressure
- broccoli
- calories
- cancer
- cardiovascular disease
- chronic diseases
- complementary medicine
- depression
- diabetes
- exercise
- greens
- Harvard
- heart disease
- high blood pressure
- hypertension
- kale
- lifestyle medicine
- mortality
- obesity
- osteoporosis
- prediabetes
- smoking
- stroke
- vegetables
- walking
- weight loss
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
“Physical inactivity [has been called] the biggest public health problem of the 21st century.” Of course, just because someone calls it that doesn’t mean it’s true. In fact, physical inactivity ranks down at #5 in terms of risk factors for death, and #6 in terms of risk factors for disability. Diet is by far our greatest killer, followed by smoking.
But still, “there is irrefutable evidence of the effectiveness of regular physical activity in the…prevention of several chronic diseases (…cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, hypertension, obesity, depression and osteoporosis) [as well as] premature death, adding an additional one or two years onto our lifespan—helping to “add years to [our] life”, and, above all, “life to [our] years.” It truly may be survival of the fittest.
How much do we need to exercise? In general, the answer is the more the better. “Currently, most health and fitness organizations advocate a minimum of” a thousand calories burned of exercise a week, which is like walking an hour a day, five days a week. But, seven days a week may be even better in terms of extending one’s lifespan. Moderate intensity can be practically defined by the “Talk but Not Sing Test,” where you can still “carry on a conversation but would feel breathless if trying to sing.”
Exercise is so important that not walking an hour a day is considered a “high-risk” behavior, alongside smoking, excess drinking, and being obese. Having any one of these effectively ages us three to five years in terms of risk of dying prematurely—though, interestingly, those that ate green vegetables on a daily basis did not appear to have that same bump in risk. But, even if broccoli-eating couch potatoes do live as long as walkers, there are a multitude of ancillary health benefits to physical activity—so much so, that doctors are encouraged to prescribe it, “to signal [to the patient] that exercise is medicine.” In fact, powerful medicine.
Researchers at the London School, Harvard, and Stanford compared exercise to drug interventions, and found that exercise often worked just as well as drugs for the treatment of heart disease and stroke, and the prevention of diabetes. Of course, there’s not a lot of money to fund exercise studies, so one option would be to require drug companies to compare any new drug to exercise. “In cases where drug options provide only modest benefit, patients deserve to understand the relative impact that physical activity might have on their condition.” We could throw diet into the mix, too. Yes, the FDA could tell drug companies, your new drug beats out placebo, but, does it work as well as kale?
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- V Gremeaux, M Gayda, R Lepers, P Sosner, M Juneau, A Nigam. Exercise and longevity. Maturitas 2012 73(4):312 – 317.
- D E R Warburton, C W Nicol, S S D Bredin. Health benefits of physical activity: The evidence. CMAJ 2006 174(6):801 – 809.
- D E R Warburton, C W Nicol, S S D Bredin. Prescribing exercise as preventive therapy. CMAJ 2006 174(7):961 – 974.
- J Crookham. A guide to exercise prescription. Prim. Care 2013 40(4):801 - 20vii.
- K M Khan, R Weiler, S N Blair. Prescribing exercise in primary care. BMJ 2011 343:d4141.
- S N Blair. Physical inactivity: The biggest public health problem of the 21st century. British journal of sports medicine 2009 43(1):1 – 2.
- H Naci, J P A Ioannidis. Comparative effectiveness of exercise and drug interventions on mortality outcomes: Metaepidemiological study. BMJ 2013 347:f5577.
- The state of US health, 1990-2010: Burden of diseases, injuries, and risk factors. JAMA 2013 310(6):591 – 608.
- Tsubono Y, Koizumi Y, Nakaya N, Fujita K, Takahashi H, Hozawa A, Suzuki Y, Kuriyama S, Tsuji I, Fukao A, Hisamichi S. Health practices and mortality in Japan: combined effects of smoking, drinking, walking and body mass index in the Miyagi Cohort Study. J Epidemiol. 2004 Feb;14 Suppl 1:S39-45.
Images thanks to Nemo via Pixabay
- aging
- alcohol
- alternative medicine
- blood pressure
- broccoli
- calories
- cancer
- cardiovascular disease
- chronic diseases
- complementary medicine
- depression
- diabetes
- exercise
- greens
- Harvard
- heart disease
- high blood pressure
- hypertension
- kale
- lifestyle medicine
- mortality
- obesity
- osteoporosis
- prediabetes
- smoking
- stroke
- vegetables
- walking
- weight loss
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Longer Life Within Walking Distance
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Content URLDoctor's Note
Exercise is just one of four lifestyle behaviors found to significantly extend our lifespan. See my last video, Turning the Clock Back 14 Years.
Other longevity videos include:
- The Benefits of Caloric Restriction without the Actual Restricting
- What Women Should Eat to Live Longer
- Methionine Restriction as a Life-Extension Strategy
- Increased Lifespan from Beans
- Nuts May Help Prevent Death
For more on exercise, see:
- Is it the Diet, the Exercise, or Both?
- Standing Up for Your Health
- Enhanced Athletic Recovery without Undermining Adaptation
- How Much Exercise to Sustain Weight Loss
What about the stress exercise can put on our bodies? See:
- Preventing Exercise-Induced Oxidative Stress with Watercress
- Reducing Muscle Soreness with Berries
- Reducing Muscle Fatigue with Citrus
This is why I recommend 90 minutes of moderate-intensity, or 40 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise. You can find examples in my free Daily Dozen app (for iPhone and Android).
Since this video came out, I have more videos on exercise:
- Exercise vs. Drugs for Depression
- How Much Should You Exercise?
- Foods to Improve Athletic Performance and Recovery
If you haven’t yet, you can subscribe to my videos for free by clicking here. Read our important information about translations here.