Physical activity and exercise significantly reduces your risk of death from varied causes, and especially cardiovascular disease. People who are fit and regularly active have 50% or more reduction in overall mortality risk. In addition, movement that is increased by 1000kcal/week has been correlated with a 20% reduction of overall mortality risk.
Studies on middle-aged women clearly show the impact of a sedentary lifestyle on mortality. When compared to their active counterparts, those who engaged in < 1 hour of exercise per week had a significant rise in all-cause mortality (52%), along with a 2x of cardiovascular-related
mortality, and an almost 30% increase in cancer-related mortality.
Even moderate improvements in fitness have been linked to considerable improvements in longevity. You don’t have to become fit overnight!
A study reported a 44% reduction in the relative risk of death for people who went from a sedentary and unfit state to a physically active and fit state over a 5-year period compared to those who stayed sedentary.
Biological Mechanisms That Help Reduce Chronic Disease Risks And Premature Death
The interdependent relationship between movement, fitness, and better health is clear. But how does that interplay work? What are the physiological processes that drive these dynamics? One is that regular movement helps improve body composition, removes excess abdominal fat, and controls weight. This enhancement in physiological composition positively impacts your lipid profiles and cholesterol levels, both indicators of chronic diseases.
At the metabolic level, movement drives a number of improvements including stabilizing glucose levels, balancing insulin sensitivity, and reducing blood pressure. Inflammation, which has become known as an early warning sign of disease, is reduced throughout your body and blood flows more easily. Your cardiovascular system gets improved blood flow to your heart, which supports better cardiac function. Your endothelium, the thin membrane that lines your heart and blood vessels, benefits from improved functioning.
Even just ONE exercise session can confer immediate physical benefits. A single dynamic exercise session results in transient improvements: lowering bad cholesterol, increasing good cholesterol, reducing blood pressure, and improving insulin and glucose control. Movement needs to be regular for these improvements to become stable, however it can be motivating to know that just one exercise session boosts your physiological state.
Case Study: Exercise For Osteoporosis Prevention And Management
Let’s dive into an example of how movement can be strategically leveraged not only to manage a health ailment, but also to prevent it. Although osteoporosis is not always a visible health condition, you are likely to know many women (and men) who have osteoporosis.
While bone mass and mineral density naturally decrease with age, osteoporosis is when that density loss is at a higher rate and is a chronic disease that weakens bones and makes fractures more likely. Osteoporosis affects one in three women, and one in five men.
Movement, particularly weight-bearing and resistance exercise, is well-documented to enhance bone density.
Longitudinal studies show that regular physical activity is an excellent preventative to age-related bone loss. Training programs are proven to prevent or reverse about 1% of bone loss per year in both pre- and post-menopausal women. Those who exercise also have lower risk and incidences of falls, as well as lower fracture rates.
In addition to preventing osteopenia and osteoporosis, exercise can also help manage and even reverse these conditions. As part of a six-month randomized controlled clinical trial, older women (aged 75-85 years) with low bone mineral density experienced significant improvements through physical training. The study divided the women into three training groups: resistance, agility, and stretching. Both the resistance and agility training groups experienced a meaningful boost in bone density.
Recent research around post-menopausal women has shown that high-impact and high-intensity exercises can improve bone density. When bone tissue is subjected to physical loads above what is typically experienced during daily physical activities, the high mechanical loads can strengthen the bone structure.
Activities that are high-impact and high-intensity are resistance exercises like deadlifts, overhead presses, and back squats along with high- impact movements like running or jump-based movements such as jumping rope or aquatic exercises.
To improve bone density the approach is to produce high peak forces to the bone with short and intense loading exercises combined with intermittent periods of rest. A common strategy to prevent and manage osteoporosis is to target the most common sites of fractures, such as the hip and spine.
Of course, safety is essential for all exercise and particularly high-impact activity for higher risk groups. If you’re starting an exercise routine to prevent or manage osteoporosis or osteopenia, make sure you implement safety considerations. Medical consultation is helpful, supervision is encouraged, and proper form is critical.
