Five Bonus Benefits of Exercise
By Jon Mikami, RPh, and Kelly Go, RPh, Molokai Drugs
You’ve been hearing about the benefits of exercise for a long time: Weight control, chronic disease management, stronger muscles and bones, to name a few. But the list of exercise benefits just keeps getting longer. If you could package these benefits in a pill, you might have a multi-million dollar product!
Maybe these less-touted benefits will offer the motivation you need to make exercise a regular part of your daily routine.
1. Improve your immune system. Seem like you catch every bug in the book? Maybe exercise can help. Researchers are finding that as little as 30 to 45-minute brisk walks five times a week can greatly boost your immune system. It does this by increasing the levels of natural killer cells that fight off infections such as colds or the flu.
2. Influence aging. Early research indicates that exercise may partly reverse the aging process caused by stress. How do we know this? Shorter telomeres are a sign of aging, and researchers have found that exercise lengthens them. Telomere is a fancy name for the strands of DNA at the tips of chromosomes.
3. Enhance your mood. Exercise can improve self-confidence, distract you from negative thoughts and help you feel fitter. Increasing body temperature may have a calming effect. Exercise also releases brain chemicals that may relieve tension and ease depression and anxiety. Some studies have even shown that exercise may be as effective as an antidepressant.
4. Boost your brain. Exercise increases growth factors in the brain, which help the brain make new brain cells and new connections between them. This may enhance memory, attention, and concentration, helping with learning. Some studies have even begun to show a link between exercise and grades on math and reading tests. But the benefits aren’t limited to kids in school. Exercise may also greatly reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, a form of dementia.
5. Sleep better. A recent poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation uncovered some interesting connections to exercise. Those who exercised—no matter what time of day—reported better sleep than those who didn’t, even when they slept the same length of time. Sedentary people were also about twice as likely to be sleepy during the day and were more likely to have sleep apnea, a disorder that interrupts breathing while you’re asleep.
So how much exercise do you need to reap benefits like these? Experts recommend getting at least two hours and 30 minutes each week of moderately intense aerobic activity or one hour and 15 minutes weekly of vigorous aerobic exercise. It’s best to combine this with muscle strengthening two times a week. Remember, short stretches of physical activity throughout the day can bring many of the same advantages as a structured Na Pu’uwai gym workout.
How easy is it to walk down Kaunakakai Wharf and back? Or, do you have time to do a few sit-ups and push-ups during commercials of Hawaii News Now or your favorite sitcom? Maybe parking your car at the other end of Kaunakakai while you do your post office errands? A few minutes each day of exercise add up and will give you healthy Molokai living.
From all of us at Molokai Drugs, have a healthy and productive 2014. As always, we are here to help. Please see any of our pharmacy staff or call us at 553-5790.