Best Prescription For Improving Health

Canadian researchers recently found that when doctors prescribed exercise to older adults who lived inactive lives, positive changes in their health occurred including dramatic decreases in weight, blood pressure, blood glucose and cholesterol levels, as well as improved blood flow to the heart and brain.



In one particular study, participants who were given exercise parameters specific to them all reported feeling more knowledgeable about their health and confident that they were becoming as healthy as they could be.

In fact, the doctor in charge of this study summarized that, not surprisingly, exercise is the best treatment for improving your health. No medical technology or drug was as proven to be as effective or inexpensive as simple exercise.

Did you know that only 21% of Canadians are physically active?

Equally shocking is that this number drops to 17% for men and women over the age of 55 – a problem with real consequences as a sedentary lifestyle is linked to obesity, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, different types of cancer and many other diseases.

The bottom line: Exercising for just 30 minutes, 3 times a week, is the best prescription, and one of the fastest ways, to improve your health.

As we reported last week in our Healthy Aging 101 blog, physical and mental decline does not happen because of aging. Changes blamed on “getting older” are actually due to leading inactive lives and making poor lifestyle choices – not because of some natural process that “just happens.”

So, what can you do? It’s actually really simple. An abundance of evidence shows that a health and fitness plan that includes resistance exercises and interval training can slow and even reverse the signs of aging including the risk of diseases considered to be a result of “getting older”.

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COMING UP

Next week’s blog will dive deeper into the importance of Healthy Eating, and how it can specifically lead you to an independent and active life.