Exercise & Fitness Archive

A brief bout of aerobic exercise can help if you need to stay focused on a task and solve problems more efficiently.

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It's not news that exercise is good for your body. You can probably recite the litany of physical benefits of regular activity: Exercise helps control your weight, lowers your blood pressure, and dampens inflammation. It reduces the risk of having a heart attack or stroke or of developing diabetes or certain cancers.

But exercise is just as important for your mind. Not only is regular exercise associated with a reduced risk of depression and anxiety, there is mounting evidence that it slows cognitive decline and may reduce the risk of dementia. "There is good evidence that exercise behaves like medicine to improve brain health and thinking skills. There is a growing body of science behind this," says Dr. Scott McGinnis, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Regular, moderate-intensity dancing may lower the risk of dying of cardiovascular disease. Aside from the exercise benefits, dancing is often a lifelong habit and provides stress-lowering social connections. 

Dancing, playing sports, and even cleaning your house can give you a nontraditional workout that helps maintain good health.

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Exercising is supposed to be a regular part of your daily health maintenance. That can be a problem if you don't have the motivation to get your heart pumping; you raise your risk for weight gain, chronic disease, and an earlier death.

Fortunately, you can get plenty of effective exercise by engaging in recreational or household activities that work your heart and muscles. "There's a real reward in doing an activity you enjoy, such as swimming or playing with your grandchildren. You get a workout, but it doesn't seem like you're exercising, and you may be more willing to keep doing that activity every day because it's fun," says Dawn Rogers, a physical therapist at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Get your life back by learning new ways to do once-simple activities that are now challenging.

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Occupational therapy (OT) is well known as part of recovery for people who've had a stroke or surgery: it helps them relearn everyday activities and adjust to doing them differently. But OT can also make a difference for people struggling with the physical changes that accompany aging, such as hand arthritis or hip or knee problems that cause pain and problems with mobility. "We teach people how to approach activities differently so they can keep pain under control while doing what they want to do. It's all about maintaining independence," says Allison Pinsince, an occupational therapist at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.

How OT works

It appears that four healthy habits—getting 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week, maintaining a body mass index between 18.5 and 27.5, no smoking, and drinking only in moderation—may prevent many cancer cases and death in white people.

It appears people with the highest levels of physical activity have lower rates of cancer of the esophagus, lung, kidney, colon, head and neck, rectum, bladder and breast, compared with people with the lowest levels of physical activity.

How many times your heart beats per minute when you’re resting — also known as your resting heart rate (RHR) — can provide important clues to your current overall health and even predict possible future health problems.

With an emphasis on proper speed and form, a regular walking routine can make great strides toward improving your health.

A dedicated walking program can be your main source of exercise.
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Walking is the oldest exercise, but nowadays it tends to be recommended only for people who have trouble staying active, have mobility issues, or are recovering from an injury or surgery. Yet you should rethink the role walking can play in your overall fitness.

Body mass index (BMI) is still the best way to assess body fat for most people.

Lifestyle measures can help to minimize postmenopausal weight gain and maximize health.