Health Matters: Exercise As Medicine

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We all know exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle.

It’s something we all know we should do, but with hectic schedules, exercise can be tough to pencil in.

I talked with a family physician at Essentia, and he says being active could be a life saver.

Gerald Elhard spends his day in a wheel chair.

After undergoing spinal surgery a few years back he became completely immobile from his waist down.
 
“I started coming out to the gym here a little over a year ago,” says Gerald.
 
Now Gerald is feeling better than ever.
 
“The mood is a lot better, before this all started I thought I was just going to lay there with no function at all,” he says.
 
It’s been a life changing experience for Gerald but what many people don’t realize is this uplift in spirits can happen to anyone…just by getting off your couch.
 
“I think majority of people don’t realize how important exercise is. Just in our society in general we’ve become a very sedentary society,” says Dr. Doug Forgit, Essentia Health Family Physician.
 
People not moving as much tend to have less energy and trouble sleeping but exercise can be medicine for more things than just trouble sleeping.
 
“If they have diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, any of those things it could potentially reverse all of them partially to completely,” says Dr. Forgit.
 
In fact, lack of exercise even as a toll on your all cause mortality, meaning the risk you have of dying at any given time.
 
“Your risk of all cause mortality of being sedentary is higher than if you have diabetes, blood pressure, or high cholesterol,” he says.
 
So what does it take, to get active?
 
“Brisk walking is as good as anything for the majority of people,” says Dr. Forgit.
 
Just how brisk?

Well, Forgit suggests a good measure is if you can talk while walking, but not being able to sing.
 
“The main focus should be on your level of activity not your weight loss, kind of let the weight loss come with it,” he says.
 
An important thing to keep in mind when you get discouraged…
 
“You’re actually better off to be fat and fit than thin and sedentary.”
 
So incorporate a walk into your daily routine or just take the stairs because your health is worth it.

Dr. Forgit suggests working out about 150 minutes a week.

A good way to break that up is 30 minutes, five times a week.

However, if you are looking to lose weight you might want to up the intensity and frequency.