Five diseases you can prevent with regular exercise

But that’s not the whole story.

Regardless of your age and conditioning level (yes, that includes everyone from power walkers to ultra-marathoners), research shows that working out more often provides health benefits—especially in the disease prevention department.

Here are five of the health ailments that regular exercise helps to prevent, manage, and assist in recovery and rehabilitation.

Improved Heart Health

Guess what’s the best way to improve your heart health and strengthen your heart muscles?

It’s cardiovascular training, according to the American Heart Association.

First, regular exercise reduces blood pressure, or what’s known as chronic hypertension. This is the biggest risk factor for heart disease. Hypertension is caused by an increased plague in the arteries.

A healthy heart pumps out more blood with each beat, helping your body function more efficiently and perform at its best. This reduces stress on your cardiovascular system, potentially lowering the risk of blood pressure and other issues.

Prevent Obesity

Whether you like to admit or not, obesity is a serious condition, especially for people living in the developed world.

Technically, being obese means that you have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. This high BMI may increase the risk of many health conditions such as blood pressure, heart problems, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, kidney disease, some cancers, fatty liver disease, and diabetes.

Guess what works like a charm for losing weight?

Of course, exercise.

Reduce Risk for Cancer

The big C. The affliction of the modern age. Cancer claims the lives of millions worldwide. The most common include cancers of the breast, colon, and lung.

Here’s some good news for regular gym-goers.

A review of 170 epidemiological studies published in the Journal Nutrition revealed that regular physical activity lowers the risks of many types of cancer.

Another meta-analysis of 67 articles, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, indicated that exercise and weight control are the most important lifestyle choices for reducing breast cancer recurrence rates.

What’s more?

Research conducted at the Public Health Sciences Division found that patients who did cardio training for 60-minute, six days a week, were able to significantly lower and cut and limit the cellular propagation patterns in the colon usually associated with polyps—and over time—cancer.

Research has also found that regular exercises may also lower the risk of recurrent or death by cancer by up to 50 percent in some cancer cases. It also helps relieve the side effects of cancer treatment, especially fatigue and nausea.

Conclusion

I know. Starting an exercise program is no easy feat, especially if you’re overweight/out of shape, or haven’t exercised in a long time. But it’s worth the sweat.

It might take you some time, but finding a workout program that you enjoy week after week can make all the difference—both in the short term and over the long haul. The rest is just detail.

About the author:

David Dack is an established fitness blogger and running expert. When he’s not training for his next marathon, he’s doing research and trying to help as many people as possible to share his fitness philosophy. Check his blog Runners Blueprint for more info.