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Exercise Training - Why Is Exercise Important?
Exercise rejuvenates virtually every organ in your body, adding energy to your days and years to your life. Some of our most common diseases can be prevented, postponed, or reversed through regular exercise.
Reduces Risk of Heart Disease
Several important risk factors for heart disease are modulated by exercise: blood pressure, triglycerides, insulin, and stress hormones to name a few. Exercise increases levels of protective HDL cholesterol, it builds cardiovascular strength, and it improves circulation.
Protects Against Diabetes
Because physical exercise increases the cells' sensitivity to insulin, it protects against diabetes and lowers blood sugar in people with diabetes. Exercise is also therapeutic for other conditions associated with insulin insensitivity, including hypertension and abdominal obesity.
Facilitates Weight Loss
There are only two solutions to successful weight loss: stop storing fat and start burning stored fat. Exercise is by far the most effective method of burning excess fat. Long-term weight management is virtually impossible without a regular exercise program.
Strengthens the Bones
Your bones are in a constant state of remodeling and strengthening, stimulated by the stresses of activity and gravity. The more your bones are stressed through weight-bearing exercise such as walking, jogging, and weightlifting, the stronger they become.
Improves Mood and Memory
Exercise improves blood flow to the brain and stimulates the production of neurotransmitters involved in mood and memory. Active older people perform better on memory tests than sedentary people who are much younger. And in a recent study, exercising for 15 minutes three times a week relieved depression as effectively as antidepressant drugs.
Relieves Pain
Arthritis, injuries, and repetitive strains often result in a cycle of pain, muscle weakness, and joint stiffness. Stretching, strengthening, and reconditioning exercises, as well as training in methods to prevent future flare ups, go a long way towards pain relief.
Getting Started
If exercise is so important, why doesn't everybody do it? Fewer than two out of 10 adults exercise regularly, and three out of 10 get absolutely no physical activity. We're too busy, too tired, or too old. If you're having trouble getting started on an exercise program, we can help.
First, Have an Exercise Stress Test
We recommend that all of our patients have an exercise stress test before getting started. The best way to evaluate the engine of a car is not to just look under the hood but to start it up, drive it around, and see how it runs at higher speeds. An exercise stress test is like a road test of your heart: It reveals problems that might only occur with activity.
Get an Exercise Prescription...
Based on the results of your exercise stress test and other information, you will receive an individualized exercise prescription, designating the types of exercise you should engage in, as well as frequency, intensity, and duration of these activities. We teach you how to monitor your heart rate and heed your built-in warning system to determine your ideal level of intensity. We also show you how to modify your program as your conditioning improves.
...And Individualized Instruction
For patients who need additional help, individualized instruction is available. Our exercise therapist is certified in resistance training (weightlifting), aerobic workouts (brisk walking, jogging, etc.), flexibility exercises (stretching, yoga, and Pilates), and body mechanics (proper posture and movement). We will design a program that fits your medical condition, time constraints, and other concerns - and provide you with the tools and motivation you need to stick with it.
What Conditions Benefit From Exercise Training?
Heart disease
Hypertension
Diabetes
Osteoporosis
Obesity
Arthritis and other pain syndromes
Depression and anxiety
Memory loss
Insomnia
Chronic fatigue
Fibromyalgia
Stroke rehabilitation
Age-related loss of muscle mass
Research Studies & Demonstrated Results
Hypertension
Researchers at Duke University followed 133 sedentary, overweight men and women with mild hypertension who engaged in 30 minutes of cycling, walking, or jogging three to four times a week, with or without a weight-loss program. After six months, study participants experienced significant drops in blood pressure, and in the exercise-weight loss group, 67 percent achieved normal blood pressure. - Archives of Internal Medicine, 2000; 160(13):1947-58.
Diabetes
In a 2002 study, 3,234 overweight men and women with impaired glucose metabolism ("pre-diabetes") were assigned to a lifestyle program, a daily dose of Glucophage (metformin), or a placebo. Patients taking the drug lowered their risk of developing diabetes by 31 percent. But those who exercised for 30 minutes five days a week, ate a low-fat diet, and lost weight, lowered their risk by an astounding 58 percent. - New England Journal of Medicine 2002; 346(6):393-403.
Life Extension
Medical records and exercise habits of more than 17,000 Harvard University alumni, who were part of a long-term study that began in 1962, were analyzed. The benefits of physical activity were striking. The men who engaged in regular physical activity had a significantly lower risk of death, not just from heart disease but from all causes, compared to those who were inactive. - Journal of the American Medical Association 1995; 273(15):1179-84.
Yoga Benefits
The most important benefit of yoga is physical and mental therapy. The aging process, which is largely an artificial condition, caused mainly by autointoxication or self-poisoning, can be slowed down by practicing yoga. By keeping the body clean, flexible and well lubricated, we can significantly reduce the catabolic process of cell deterioration. To get the maximum benefits of yoga one has to combine the practices of yogasanas, pranayama and meditation.
Regular practice of asanas, pranayama and meditation can help such diverse ailments such as diabetes, blood pressure, digestive disorders, arthritis, arteriosclerosis, chronic fatigue, asthma, varicose veins and heart conditions. Laboratory tests have proved the yogi's increased abilities of consciously controlling autonomic or involuntary functions, such as temperature, heartbeat and blood pressure. Research into the effects of yogic practices on HIV is currently underway with promising results.
According to medical scientists, yoga therapy is successful because of the balance created in the nervous and endocrine systems which directly influences all the other systems and organs of the body. Yoga acts both as a curative and preventive therapy. The very essence of yoga lies in attaining mental peace, improved concentration powers, a relaxed state of living and harmony in relationships.
Through the practice of yoga, we become aware of the interconnectedness between our emotional, mental and physical levels. Gradually this awareness leads to an understanding of the more subtle areas of existence. The ultimate goal of yoga is to make it possible for you to be able to fuse together the gross material (annamaya), physical (pranamaya), mental (manomaya), intellectual (vijnanamaya) and spiritual (anandamaya) levels within your being.
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