“Exercise training lowers inflammation, increases heat shock protein transcription/protection, refines processes of immune function and apoptosis, improves antioxidant capacity, responsiveness to vaccine, wound healing, cell signaling the neuroendocrine response, skeletal muscle function, retards cellular senescence, and enhances cognitive function.”– Michael G. Flynn, Melissa M. Markofski, Andres E. Carrillo1 (Citations omitted)
My wife suggested that I write a post on “diseases exercise and nutrition can help reverse.” A former student’s reply to her was: “that list is amazing”. My response was that it would be easier to list the diseases that cannot be helped by diet and exercise. That list would be quite short—perhaps nonexistent. A fact that I have recognized and had confirmed in teaching courses on the relationship between diet/exercise and disease is that if you want to maximize your health—limit the risk of disease and/or improve the prognosis of disease—exercise and don’t smoke. Simple.
Now, certainly, diet and exercise cannot replace the advancements in medicine that allow doctors to treat disease, but these are the best steps in prevention and in nearly all cases will have a positive impact on the treatment of disease. It is important to note, however, that not everyone responds the same to exercise (just like the response to traditional medicines) and in some cases the exercise prescription (e.g., type and does) must be carefully considered. There are “responders” and “non-responders” to exercise. There have also been cases where exercise has had a negative effect on symptoms (generally, however, the specifics of the exercise needs to change to suit the individual). Some conditions, e.g., multiple sclerosis, require that the environment and the exercise be closely regulated to prevent an exacerbation of the symptoms. Nevertheless, proper exercise will have the effects cited by Flynn et al. above.
In general, the desired benefits of exercise are to 1) increase/maintain muscle mass (prevent sarcopenia), 2) increase maintain bone mass (prevent osteopenia), 3) decrease (or maintain a healthy amount of) body fat (prevent obesity and subsequent diabetes, heart disease, etc.), and 4) counter the effects of inflammaging (i.e., maintain a healthy immune system).
Diet and exercise are all about moderation. Thus, it does not require excessive sacrifice or lifestyle change. (In other words, you can still eat your cake and have it too.) The keys are commitment, consistency, and control of one’s environment. Limit that which is unhealthy and dedicate efforts toward self-improvement. Baby steps. Small changes get magnified over time. We can reverse the course of most disease with proper lifestyle changes. No one has ever been harmed by proper exercise.
Be your best today; be better tomorrow.
12Flynn, M.G., Markofski, M.M., & Carrillo, A.E. (2019). Elevated inflammatory status and increased risk of Chronic disease in chronological aging: inflamm-aging or inflamm-inactivity? Aging and Disease, 10(1):147-156. http://dx.doi.org/10.14336/AD.2018.0326