this means you ' ll be less likely to injure yourself and you ' ll have greater energy and stamina. In the long term, it will help to ensure greater self-sufficiency in later years.
It also increases your likelihood of living into those later years. One important study, called the College Alumni Health Study, followed graduates of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania for thirty-eight years. They found that men between the ages of 45 and 84 who expended just 1,000 calories a week-engaging in activities ranging from tennis to gardening-had a twenty to thirty percent reduced risk of dying from all causes when compared to those with less-active lifestyles. And those who had even greater calorie expenditures reduced their risk still further.
Exercise comes with another subtle but powerful health benefit: By now, you understand the dangers of insulin resistance and the importance of curbing the overproduction of insulin.( If you don ' t, refer to Chapter 5 for a refresher.) Regular exercise results in a more efficient use of glucose at the cellular level, and this in turn reduces the output of insulin by the pancreas. It ' s just plain healthy to get moving.
Finally, many studies have shown that regular exercise appears to elevate mood and reduce depression and anxiety. In a Swedish study of thirty-four hundred people, those who exercised at least two to three times a week showed significantly less depression, anger, " cynical distrust " and stress than did people who exercised less frequently or not at all. The frequent exercisers also showed higher levels of coherence and stronger feelings of social integration.' Sounds good, doesn ' t it? And as if those benefits aren ' t enough in themselves, think about how often those feelings of depression or anger are the ones that lead you to overeat. You ' ll kill two birds with one stone if you can reduce them.
Disease Prevention Physical activity has important positive effects on virtually all of the body ' s systems: musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, respiratory and endocrine. These effects result in reduced risks of coronary heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, colon cancer and Type II diabetes. As more exercise and disease research accumulates, we ' ll likely find many other conditions that may be prevented with regular exercise.
Probably the most compelling evidence out there has to do with exercise ' s ability to help our hearts: In the famous Honolulu Heart Program study of twenty-six hundred men ages 71 to 93, researchers found a fifteen percent decrease in risk of heart disease for every half mile walked per day. The men who walked one and a half miles or more per day had less than half the rate of heart disease compared to those who walked less than a quarter mile per day. Other studies have had similarly amazing results.
Have I made my case? So why is it that sixty percent of us don ' t get regular exercise? Here are some of the excuses I hear most often:
• " I don ' t have time:' Oh, how often I ' ve heard this one. Listen, folks, if you sleep eight hours a night, you have sixteen waking hours a day. Subtract eight hours for working and two for eating and personal hygiene and you still have six hours left. In those six hours, there is no way you can ' t find half an hour for exercise. For other things that are important to you, you simply find or make time, and this should be the same!
• " I ' m too old:' If you ' re over a hundred, call me for a special consultation to discuss the possibility of your not exercising. The rest of you, get up out of your rocking chairs!
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