More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
unlike other medicines, exercise is free, has no side effects, and is sometimes
you should gamble on being unfit and lean.
No drug is so potent.
You could go to the Royal Society of Medicine library and read the literature before you had tea.”
atherosclerosis, starts with the buildup of plaque
In the last 120 years, coronary artery disease has exploded more than two-and-a-half-fold to become a leading cause of death worldwide.
regular, moderate physical activity has the potential to reduce the risk of contracting certain contagious diseases,
an inverse dose-response relationship between levels of physical activity and the risk of pneumonia,
there is no evidence that moderate levels of exercise increases anyone’s risk.
higher baseline levels of infection-fighting cells among individuals who exercise regularly and moderately,
lower levels immediately following intense, prolonged bouts of vigorous exercise.
These and other studies showing increased immune activity following moderate exercise but declines in white blood cell counts right after intense exercise have led to the hypothesis of a J-shaped relationship between exercise dose and immune function.
long-term physical inactivity depresses immune competence, moderate levels boost the immune system, and very high doses of physical activity temporarily compromise immune function,
number of studies provide some support for this surveillance hypothesis. In particular, regular physical activity not only increases white blood cell counts but also appears to distribute preferentially certain cells from the bloodstream to the places they are most needed, including the vulnerable mucus-covered linings of the respiratory tract and gut.
this exercise-based vaccine boost also occurs in the elderly.
Altogether, it appears that regular, moderate physical activity increases the immune system’s capacities, but how much is optimal
clouded by variations between humans,
An impressive 82 percent of the mice who were exercised moderately (twenty to thirty minutes a day at a modest speed) survived, but 43 percent of the sedentary mice survived, and only 30 percent of the mice forced to exercise for two and a half hours a day survived.
too much was deadly,
What we don’t yet know enough about is dose.
but how much is too much and to what extent it temporarily depresses the immune system require further study.
consensus view on this issue is the “open window” hypothesis.
extreme bouts of exercise may reduce the calories needed to comba...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
There is no disagreement, however, that moderate levels of exercise are usually beneficial rather than detrimental,
Because muscles are costly (right now, you are spending about one out of five calories simply maintaining your muscles73), they are the classic example of the “Use It or Lose
weight-bearing activities
lifelong weight-bearing exercise helps prevent the disease.
Physical activities like running that load joints repeatedly and heavily do not cause higher rates of osteoarthritis and may sometimes be protective.
Muscles benefit from all physical activities, but they respond most strongly to weight-bearing
To prevent sarcopenia, do weights.
like jumping, running, and weight lifting that place demanding loads on bones help develop and maintain a strong skeleton much more than lower-impact activities like swimming or using an elliptical.
Regular loading from activities like walking and maybe even running might also increase the quantity and quality of cartilage in joints.
Think of your body as a giant ecosystem
Compared with those who were sedentary, modest exercisers had 13 to 20 percent lower cancer rates, and those who exercised moderately or more had 25 to 30 percent lower cancer rates.
Breast and colon cancers are
the mechanisms appear to be linked to energy.
if you are worried about the disease, then exercise.
Exercise is by far the most effective known form of prevention and treatment.
moderate levels of physical activity lowered the risk of Alzheimer’s by 45 percent.
increasing blood flow to the brain, by suppressing inflammation, and by lowering damaging levels of oxidative stress.
mix of aerobic exercise, weights, and exercises that improve balance and coordination.
that affect one in five of us at some point.
regular exercisers report 12 to 23 percent lower levels of mental health problems than sedentary people matched for sex, age, education, and income.
confirm that exercise helps prevent and treat depression disorders and to a lesser extent generalized anxiety disorder.
find that exercise is at least as if not more effective than drugs and therapy.
may arise from our physiology being poorly adapted to excess sedentariness.
physical activity has many direct effects on the brain.
such as SSRIs used to treat depression and anxiety manipulate levels of these neurotransmitters.
levels of BDNF and other growth factors
How much and what dose of exercise are beneficial for the brain, however, is unclear.
