Health Benefits   


» Health Benefits of Exercise
» How Physical Activity Impacts Health
» Specific Health Benefits of Exercise
Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Diabetes, Obesity, Back Pain, Osteoporosis, Psychological Effects
» Stop Smoking
Who Smokes, Health Risks, Who's Hooked, Quitting, The Aftermath, My Story

Health Benefits of Exercise:

Regular exercise can help protect you from heart disease and stroke, high blood pressure, noninsulin-dependent diabetes, obesity, back pain, osteoporosis, and can improve your mood and help you to better manage stress.

If you have been inactive for a while, you may want to start with less strenuous activities such as walking or swimming at a comfortable pace. Beginning at a slow pace will allow you to become physically fit without straining your body. Once you are in better shape, you can gradually do more strenuous activity.
[back to top]

How Physical Activity Impacts Health

Regular physical activity that is performed on most days of the week reduces the risk of developing or dying from some of the leading causes of illness and death in the United States.

• Reduces the risk of dying prematurely.
• Reduces the risk of dying prematurely from heart disease.
• Reduces the risk of developing diabetes.
• Helps reduce blood pressure in people who already have high blood pressure.
• Reduces the risk of developing colon cancer.
• Reduces feelings of depression and anxiety.
• Helps control weight.
• Helps build and maintain healthy bones, muscles, and joints.
• Helps older adults become stronger and better able to move about without falling.
• Promotes psychological well-being.
  [back to top]

Heart Disease and Stroke. Daily physical activity can help prevent heart disease and stroke by strengthening your heart muscle, lowering your blood pressure, raising your high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels (good cholesterol) and lowering low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels (bad cholesterol), improving blood flow, and increasing your heart's working capacity.

High Blood Pressure. Regular physical activity can reduce blood pressure in those with high blood pressure levels. Physical activity also reduces body fatness, which is associated with high blood pressure.

Noninsulin-Dependent Diabetes. By reducing body fatness, physical activity can help to prevent and control this type of diabetes.

Obesity. Physical activity helps to reduce body fat by building or preserving muscle mass and improving the body's ability to use calories. When physical activity is combined with proper nutrition, it can help control weight and prevent obesity, a major risk factor for many diseases.

Back Pain. By increasing muscle strength and endurance and improving flexibility and posture, regular exercise helps to prevent back pain.

Osteoporosis. Regular weight-bearing exercise promotes bone formation and may prevent many forms of bone loss associated with aging.

Psychological Effects. Regular physical activity can improve your mood and the way you feel about yourself. Researchers also have found that exercise is likely to reduce depression and anxiety and help you to better manage stress.

Millions of Americans suffer from illnesses that can be prevented or improved through regular physical activity.

• 13.5 million people have coronary heart disease.
• 1.5 million people suffer from a heart attack in a given year.
• 8 million people have adult-onset (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes.
• 95,000 people are newly diagnosed with colon cancer each year.
• 250,000 people suffer from a hip fractures each year.
• 50 million people have high blood pressure.
• Over 60 million people (a third of the population) are overweight.
  [back to top]

Stop Smoking

These are the facts, gathered by researchers and statisticians, just a sampling, but the facts, none-the-less. 

Who Smokes?

About 48 million U.S. adults, or 25.5% of the population, smoke. 

More men than women smoke. 25.3 million versus 22.7 million. 

Of adult smokers, 82% smoke everyday; 18% don't. 

Who is most likely to smoke: Native Americans and Alaskan Natives (42.2%); least likely to smoke; Asians and Pacific Islanders (13.9%). 

An estimated 4.5 million teens, ages 12-17, smoke. 

Smokers are more likely to be heavy drinkers and illicit-drug users.
[back to top]

Health Risks

Tobacco use is blamed for nearly one in five deaths in the United States. 

Worldwide, about 3 million people a year die as a result of smoking. By 2020, the total is predicted to nearly triple, and smoking will be the single largest cause of death, according to a World Health Organization study released in September, 1996. 

On average, a smoker loses 15 years of life. 

Men who smoke have a 22 times greater risk of dying of lung cancer than do men who have never smoked; women smokers' risk of dying of lung cancer is 12 times greater than women who have never smoked. 

This year, lung cancer is expected to be diagnosed in 177,000 people in the U.S. 

The incidence of lung cancer has declined in men but continues to increase in women; about 158,000 men and women will die of lung cancer in the U.S. this year. 

Since 1987, more women have died each year from lung cancer than from breast cancer. 

While the associations between smoking and lung cancer - as well as smoking and heart disease - are well-known, there are other cancers associated with smoking. Among them: cancer of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, pancreas, cervix, kidney and bladder. 
[back to top]

Who's Hooked

Nearly one-third of people who have ever tried a single cigarette develop dependence on tobacco. 

Then there are the "chippers" - researchers' term for very light, longtime cigarette smokers who seem not to be nicotine-dependent, despite decades of smoking cigarettes. They account for 5% of the smoking population. 

In studies at the University of Pittsburgh, regular smokers deprived of nicotine showed changes in craving, mood, arousal and sleep disturbances, but chippers showed no changes in those areas when they were deprived of nicotine. 
[back to top]

Quitting

Nearly 70% of adults who smoke want to quit. 

Overall, fewer than 3% of smokers quit successfully, but that percentage increases dramatically if there is a health risk or a formal cessation program. 

More smoking cessation options than ever are available: 

The nicotine patch and nicotine gum are now available over the counter. 

A nicotine nasal spray, available by prescription only, was approved in March of 1996. 

And a noncombustible nicotine inhaler, under study in the U.S. went on the market in September in Denmark. The inhaler partially preserves the ritual of smoking. Nicotine release is controlled by inhaling air through a mouthpiece. 

Length of treatment with these nicotine replacement therapies depends on an individual's smoking habits and other factors. 

Other approaches are under study, including combining the patch with an antidepressant, combining the patch and the gum, or combing the gum and the inhaler. (Users are cautioned not to combine treatments on their own, and to stop smoking completely.) 
[back to top]

The Aftermath

Many smokers on the verge of quitting fear weight gain - and rightly so. Smokers typically gain about 8 pounds after they quit, several studies have found, probably because nicotine increases metabolic rate and ex-smokers often eat more, at least for a time. Increased physical activity can help. 

Researchers followed 1,474 women who quit smoking. Those who increase their activity by walking about three hours a week (or engaging in exercise that burned about the same number of calories) gained an average of 4 pounds. 
[back to top]

My Story

Yup, I smoked too, about a pack a day! And not just any cigarettes; I smoked Newport 100's so I could get more nicotine for my buck! I tried quitting several times (just like everyone), but what actually finally helped me to quit was exercise! When I focused my energy on my body, the nicotine had to go.

By smoking and trying to build muscles simultaneously, I was like a dog chasing it's tail (I never caught it). Think about it: Why do the muscle-men have veins all over their body? Because bigger muscles require more blood (veins) to grow and maintain. Cigarettes are vasoconstrictors; they make your veins smaller. Where am I going with this? If you haven't put the two together yet, here it is:

Big muscles = More veins
Smoking = Less veins

Got it? Then QUIT SMOKING NOW

[back to top]