Studies have shown that
even a small amount of exercise can help you live longer and reduce your risk of
cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and other life-threatening
conditions.
Put down that diet book and pick up your feet. If
you're wondering why you're not thinner, trimmer and healthier, think about what
you're doing - or not doing - each day.
A Danish survey published in the Archives of
Internal Medicine looked at 13,000 women and 17,000 men ranging in age
from 20 to 93. They examined whether they rode bikes to work, their level of
activity on the job and participation in sports. They found older, more active
people lived longer than the more sedentary participants. Women benefited from
exercise much more than their male counterparts, as they stuck with it more.
U.S. Health and Human Services Department Secretary
Tommy G. Thompson estimates 300,000 Americans die each year from sedentary
lifestyles and poor eating habits.
"One third of (cancer) deaths are related to diet and
inactivity," said Colleen Doyle, the American Cancer Society's director of
nutrition and physical activity. About 186,000 lives a year could be saved if
people changed those living habits, she said.
Simply walking around your block, or doing the hustle
at the disco, is better than the inactivity many of us have adopted, experts
say.
"Most Americans, especially after the age of 35 or
40, are more sedentary," said Phil Kaplan, a Fort Lauderdale fitness expert.
"You build up more plaque in the arteries, which narrows the space in the blood
vessel, which can lead to high blood pressure."
More and more studies are documenting obesity trends
among adults and children. The National Center for Health Statistics, which
tracks health trends, says 64 percent of U.S. adults were either overweight or
obese in 2000.
Recognizing what it calls an epidemic, the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has launched a campaign targeting
children. A key goal: combating the rise in juvenile and, eventually, adult
diabetes, which can lead to blindness, kidney disease, limb amputation, heart
attack and stroke. About two-thirds of the nearly 15 million people with Type 2
diabetes are overweight.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when a person does not produce
enough insulin, used by the body to help sugar in the blood enter into cells
where it's used as fuel. Exercise and weight loss allows the body to better use
insulin and lowers blood sugar.
"The number of kids overweight has doubled," said Dr.
Jim Marks, director of the National Center for Chronic Disease and Health
Promotion at the CDC. "In the face of a lot of progress and a lot of good
science telling us what to do and how to treat disease, these trends are
dramatically in the wrong direction."
The CDC message: Do something - anything - as long as
you're active.
They are marketing the idea with the same kind of
spin that they would an ad for a new video game - flashy, hip, fun commercials
on Nickelodeon. They've dubbed the promotion VERB - an action word.
The campaign made a stop at the AmericanAirlines
Arena in Miami recently and nearly 2,000 Miami-Dade County public school
children sampled the smorgasbord of activities that will keep them active. Among
them: the Cha-Cha slide, kayaking, jumping rope, shooting hoops and taking
walks.
"The concept behind the whole program is find an
activity that you enjoy and do it," said Jayne Greenberg, executive director the
division of life skills and special projects for Miami-Dade Public Schools. VERB
targets those 9- to 13-year olds who are old enough to begin making choices
about how to spend their time.
Source: Diabetes In Control Dot Com.
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