Moving into Fall

I'm moving this fall. Not my household, dear reader. My body.

If you've read anything beside a novel this summer you know that there's research gushing out of universities all over the world about the preventative and vitality-boosting benefits of moving one's body. A reluctant exerciser myself, even I can't help but take notice as the compelling evidence builds.

I was raised by parents who grew up in the era of the myth that said the "body wears out with age", and they lived their lives accordingly. They expected to wear down with age, and they did. Unfortunately, they wore out too soon to learn what we know now: that the human body wears out with non-use, not with age.

Jack LaLanne says it well. "People don't die of old age, they die of neglect". I guess he can say things like that; the undisputed father of fitness turns 92 this month. But to be honest with you, Jack LaLanne has always been a little hard core for me (all that fitness fervor makes me nervous) and public service messages about exercise preventing early death are just too abstract for me.

Frankly, I'm more interested in QUALITY of life than QUANTITY right now. Apparently I'm not alone in my focus on quality of life. Current research in the US finds that Americans are more fearful of immobility and loss of freedom than actually dying. It's no wonder that the t-shirt sweeping the nation right now says "Life is good", not "Life is long". Quality trumps quantity for most of us and the research on quality of life shows that we're looking for vitality, mobility, energy, relationship, and independence. Not immortality.

And that's why I've decided to move this fall.

This wave of research is showing that moderate amounts of activity-okay excuse me, but it helps me to think of it as movement and activity rather than exercise-foment all sorts of quality of life results. And the good news for people like me is that we need not be a Jack or Elaine LaLanne. There's hope for us mere mortals, dear reader. God bless the Type A personalities and their relentless pursuit of fitness excellence. Those of us for whom B+ living is just fine, are hearing good news almost everyday now: moderate physical activity, is not just adequate, it's the key to the good, and (as it turns out) long, life.

Just about every part of the whole person benefits from moving. Read on...

The number of heart attacks tops one million in the U.S. every year; more than 12 times that many people have some kind of debilitating, or limiting, coronary disease. But people who are only moderately active-say, walking an hour a week-decrease the risk of heart attack by an average of at least 50%! The risk reduction alone seems pretty compelling, but the benefits for quality of life through heart vitality are even more inspiring.

With some form of moderate activity, not only is the heart muscle strengthened, the whole blood/oxygen system gets a renovation: arteries become more flexible and strong, the lungs become more efficient, the good kind of cholesterol (HDL) is increased, blood pressure decreases. All of this means a deluxe supply of oxygen to the brain-more on that later-which probably explains the sense of well-being and refreshment that comes from movement and activity.

Imagine the circulatory system as a lifeline, a surging power source. Not a ticking time bomb to be treated gingerly with small movements and inactivity. I watched both of my parents limit their movement over time to preserve what they believed to be the diminishing capacity of their bodies. So every time my heart gets up to its healthy maximum rate on a hike or a bike ride I get a rush. Yes, of oxygen to the cells, but of optimism to the spirit as well knowing that I'm building capacity in the very system that provides the rush.

It's not surprising that muscles are one of the most metabolically demanding parts of the body. What structure wouldn't be given the tasks of keeping the human body erect, pumping fluids like blood and lymph throughout the system, digesting food, breathing, and mobilizing the body throughout the waking day?

Given their demanding nature, when not used over a period of time, the body senses that muscles are unnecessary and initiates a reassignment of nutritional resources (usually to fat cells, I'm sorry to report), resulting in a decline in muscle mass and strength. As a matter of fact, for women, in their 40's and men in their 50's, under-utilized muscle mass begins a slow process of decline. By 80, unless unchecked, this process diminishes our muscle mass to only a third of what we enjoyed at age 40, resulting in a significant loss of strength-up to 50% or more!

Talk about a roadblock to independence and mobility!! Yikes!

Fortunately, none of this needs to happen. In fact, we can build muscle mass until the day we die, no matter how old we are. With muscle, if you use it, you can't lose it: healthy muscle grows in response to demand. What's more, if you use it with some intention of building and strengthening, that metabolically demanding muscular system of yours gives you an additional reward: it steals resources from fat-production. I don't know about you, but I like that side of the muscle/fat equation.

What's more restorative than a good night's sleep? When we don't have it, every cell of the body feels as though it is yearning for sleep. When we get those opulent nights of deeply restful sleep it feels as though we awake in a brand new body. And in a way, we actually do. During sleep cellular reparation and detoxification take place, nerves are calmed, and the entire immune system gets recharged.

Sleep is much in the news right now and we're learning that Americans are a largely sleep-deprived group of people. If you happen to be peri-menopausal (and there's a good chance you are, since approximately a quarter of American females are in the peri-menopausal age range), the likelihood that you are getting a good restful night's sleep plummets.

Moderate activity during the day (like bike riding) and mild activity (like stretching) at bedtime not only increases the ability to fall asleep and stay asleep but also increases the amount of time spent in deepest--Stage 4--sleep. For some people, exercise alone is sufficient to overcome sleep problems.

Researchers at Stanford asked adults aged 55 to 75 who were troubled by sleep deprivation to engage in moderate activity-specifically leg-related activity such as walking, biking, and low-impact aerobics--every other day for 20-30 minutes. On average the participants slept an additional hour, and the time it took to fall asleep was diminished by half. For various reasons, leg-related, aerobic activities are most effective, and most effective in the late afternoon. But not, of course, right before going to bed (this can make a person so energized, falling asleep is ridiculously impossible).

I was excited-though not so excited I couldn't sleep mind you--to learn that moderate activity increases the length of the most restful form of sleep. So, the quantity and quality relationship pops up again. In this case, we get both: more sleep AND better sleep, drug (and subsequent side-effect) free.

If you could do something to decrease the risk of getting cancer you'd jump at the chance, yes? I would too! There's nothing quite so satisfying as knowing one can actually do something to decrease the likelihood of contracting these illnesses that evoke a sense of powerlessness. There is very good news about the correlation of increased activity levels and decreased likelihood of breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, endometrial cancer, and ovarian cancer.

In the large, long-term study of 120,000 nurses researcher have found that women who walk an average of an hour a day reduce their risk of breast cancer by 20%. Among participants of another study who walked just half an hour twice a week, the prevalence of colon cancer was 30-40% lower than those who did not. Researchers are finding similar numbers when they examine endometrial, ovarian, and prostate cancers. They are hypothesizing that the boost to the immune system provided by activity is behind these encouraging numbers. Which brings us to a doubly exciting aspect of activity for us mere mortals...

Research is showing that the immune system can be enhanced through activity. People who are moderately active have fewer colds and other respiratory problems. This is most likely due to activity's role in the movement of lymph-our body's waste disposal system-effectively throughout the body, and to a decrease in stress hormones. Scientists are also seeing increased levels of killer T cells and circulating T and B lymphocytes in the blood of mere mortal like me and you who engage in moderate activity. Read on for the delicious second part of this news...

Only moderate activity is showing an increase in the immune function. In fact, strenuous exercise of a long duration, or strenuous single-episode exercise (are you reading this all you weekend warriors?) have shown a decrease in the immune function.

Yes, you can exercise too much. (That tickles me.) But, to be fair, scientists are findings these decreases among people who extend themselves beyond the adventures of weekend warriors and fitness enthusiasts. We're talking marathoners and other competitive athletes.

Good bye type 2 diabetes, hello glucose super factory. A huge study of 50,000 people has shown that activity, as little as a daily walk for an hour, lowers risk of diabetes by a third. Compared to the sedentary, whose bodies may become insensitive to insulin and subsequently maintain dangerously high levels of blood sugar, people who are moderately active enjoy finely-tuned glucose regulation. This uber-efficient regulation system results in fewer dips and peaks in blood sugar level for all of us, doing a world of good on the mood front, if nothing else.

I'm better at doing hard things than giving up good things. As a result, dieting has never been one of my skills. Imagine my pleasant surprise to learn that a brisk walk for 45-60 minutes a day lowers the risk of obesity by 24%.

If you don't know the health risks of obesity, you haven't been watching TV, listening to the radio, reading a newspaper or a magazine or a billboard for the last three years, yes? But only recently have we been learning about the extra risk of specific kinds of fat, especially the kind of fat that likes to collect around the waistline, not in the skin, but under the musculature around our organs. It's called visceral fat and it puts us at serious risk of heart disease, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome (a cluster of conditions that typically occur together, including high blood sugar, high blood pressure, obesity, and high triglycerides-fats that are thought to cause clogged arteries).

Last year there was a report of a study out of Duke University that compared middle-aged overweight people who did no physical activity beyond their usual daily routine to a group of overweight who participated in exercise that was equivalent to walking 12 miles a week. After six months, they found that the inactive group had gained an average of 2.5 pounds of this visceral fat while the walkers had lost 4.5 pounds of visceral fat. That's a 7 pound difference! But that's just the beginning of the good news coming out of North Carolina.

More recently a study at Duke's neighbor, Wake Forest University, compared the impact of dieting on abdominal fat cells to the impact of exercise. Here the researchers found that after 20 weeks of dieting alone, participants showed no reduction in abdominal fat cells. Participants who walked 3 times a week showed a whopping 18% reduction in abdominal fat cells, whether they dieted or not!

I know if any nutritionists are reading this they may be calling me to chide me for downplaying the importance of nutrition in a healthy lifestyle, but adding three walks a week to my schedule sounds a whole lot better to me than cutting out chocolate.

I know I'm not alone in admitting a fear of losing my mental faculties as I age. One look through a popular magazine and its plethora of ads for Alzheimer's-moderating drugs will tell even the marginally media-saavy that there's money to be made from our collective fear of losing mental agility as we age.

But staying mentally agile need not cost money, or professional intervention. A growing body of research, across continents is increasingly consistent in its findings: people who move, active people, are at a lower risk of cognitive decline and dementia. Now, I don't mean amateur Olympians dear reader; these are mere mortals like you and me and they're doing things like gardening, housework, walking, and jogging.

This finding alone is just about enough for me to join a hiking club or plant a garden (jogging seems too fast for me, and housework is completely out of the question). Engaging in several of these moderate activities has been correlated to lower dementia diagnoses, on an average of 50%! Brilliant!

Okay, some people may take exception to using Buddha and Oprah in the same conceptual sentence, but allow me to explain… Study after study have found that anxiety, whether situational or more on-going in nature, is calmed by activity as well as other treatments-including drugs and therapy.

The best kind of anxiety-reducing activity is aerobic, but less rambunctious movement is promising as well. I don't know about you, but even I would rather take on the activity level of a jazzercise fan and enjoy the Buddha-like benefits than count on a benzodiazepine and it's side effects (lethargy, slurred speech, loss of motor coordination, and addiction, just to name a few) to address my rattled nerves. Besides, movement, unlike prescription drugs, is free.

The impact of activity on anxiety is encouraging. But that's nothing compared to what exercise can do for depression. Here, the research is all but conclusive: the positive impact of activity on depression begins as early as the very first time you slip out of your jammies and into a pair of sneakers for a simple walk around the block.

And it's not just for the clinically depressed: moving the body brings relief to the range of people struggling with the dark angel, from the cowgirl with the blues to the acutely depressed. Some studies have found that exercise is as effective as psychotherapy and the more popular "behavioral interventions" in generating an Oprah-like sense of hope among those of us who struggle with the depression spectrum.

Remember, if you do take medications for anxiety or depression and decide to give activity a chance to compete for effectiveness in abating your demons, don't stop taking your medication cold turkey. Your health care provider can help you taper off the medication at a safe pace.

Indeed, the body is a miracle machine. The only machine that wears our with non-use responds proactively to demand as long as it lives. Research is showing that people well into their 90's reap the benefits of activity by getting stronger and healthier with movement. Researchers are even finding bone growth in older adults who lift weights!

Scientists looking at middle-age adults and activity are finding that people who exercise at midlife live longer than those that don't. We already know that with movement we live lives of more vitality, energy, and immunity. Low and behold, we can actually live longer, too.

So just when I assert that quality trumps quantity, I start getting excited about drawing out this high quality, good life as long as possible. Yes, this fall, I'm moving.