The health benefits of exercise – do you manage to find the time?

Lack of physical exercise is one of the leading risk factors of death worldwide and is on the rise in many countries.   If you are not active enough, you have a 20-30% increase risk of death compared to people who are active.

Regular exercise can reduce your risk of numerous diseases including hypertension, coronary heart disease, chronic respiratory disease, stroke, diabetes, various types of cancer (including breast cancer and colon cancer), stress, anxiety and depression.  Exercising can boost your energy levels, increase your self esteem and confidence, and if done with friends, can prevent loneliness.

Globally cardiovascular disease accounts for a third of deaths among women and in women over 50 this rises to half of the deaths of women in developing countries. Diabetes affects 70 million women globally. Osteoporosis will affect 1 in 4 women. Globally breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women.  Women report almost double the rates of depression. All of this can be reduced by regular physical activity.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that for all countries, women do less physical activity than men, and 84% of adolescent girls are not meeting the recommended physical activity levels. WHO are running a campaign for all countries to make efforts to improve provision and encouragement of physical activity. The UK have a scheme directly aimed at women called This Girl Can.  Check out their web site for some inspiring videos and information.

WHO recommends that adults should do at least 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity throughout the week which can be increased to 300 minutes of moderate activity for additional health benefits.   I personally would recommend that women try to spread this out during the week and do at least 30 minutes of physical activity a day.

There are certain key goals we should try to meet when exercising. We need to increase our heart rate which will increase blood flow to our whole body, including our brain. We need to work our lungs, ensuring that we are taking in enough breathes to oxygenate our blood. We need to work each major muscle group to improve their strength and stretch each major muscle group. We need to look after the health of our bones.   Weight bearing and resistance exercise should be done regularly to help our muscles and bones but are especially important after the menopause. We need to ensure we keep our balance as this can deteriorate with age and a significant number of deaths in older people are caused by falls.

Do you manage to find the time to do enough exercise?