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Exercise The physical benefits of
exercise are well known and include: ·
Prevention of heart disease and
diabetes ·
Reduction of blood pressure and
cholesterol ·
Weight loss ·
Improvement in bone strength Exercise also has mental
benefits, particularly for sleep and depression. To see these health
benefits, you needn’t exercise excessively. The recommended amount for
general and mental health is: ·
At least 30 minutes of moderate
intensity exercise per day, such as brisk walking, swimming, bicycling,
aerobics class or dancing. That activity can also be
spread out in 10 minute chunks. If you
can’t exercise daily, you can still get good results from an every-other-day
routine. This kind of exercise has
been shown to help depression in several studies. One study found that people
who exercised while taking antidepressants were less likely to become
depressed again after recovery. In
fact, exercise is known to cause the same changes in the brain as
antidepressants do (it causes brain growth in the memory/emotion center, or
hippocampus). To improve sleep, try
exercising in the afternoon. If your goal is to lose weight,
you may need to exercise longer (60 minutes a day instead of 30 minutes). The effects of exercise
on other conditions are not as well known, but some research suggests it may
also be beneficial for: ·
Anxiety and panic disorder ·
Chronic fatigue syndrome ·
Chronic pain ·
Smoking cessation Precautions: Exercise may
not be helpful for everyone, and for some it may not be safe. If you have medical problems, particularly
of the bones, muscles, heart or lungs, consult your physician before taking
on an exercise program. Also talk to
your doctor if you have symptoms of medical illness including chest pain,
loss of balance, shortness of breath, dizziness and physical pain. For more reading… National Center for Disease Prevention
Exercise Program. Scientific References Blumental JA, Effects of exercise training on older adults
with major depression. Archives of
Internal Medicine 1999; 159: 2349-56. Lawlor, DA. The effectiveness of exercise as an intervention
in the management of depression: systemic review and meta-regression analysis
of randomized controlled trials. British
Medical Journal 2001; 322:1-8. Broocks A. Comparison of aerobic exercise, clomipramine and
placebo in the treatment of panic disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry 1998; 155:603-9. Powell P. Patient education to encourage graded exercise in
chronic fatigue syndrome. British Journal
of Psychiatry 2003; 184:142-6. Ussher MH. Does exercise aid smoking cessation? A systematic
review. Addiction 2000;
95(2):199-208. Armstrong
K. The effectiveness of a pram-walking exercise program in reducing
depressive symptomatology for postnatal women. International Journal of Nursing Practice. 2004 Aug;10(4):177-94. —Updated 2/1/09 by Chris Aiken, MD |
Lyonel
Feininger, The Bicycle Race, 1912,
National Gallery of Art |
