An Almost Complete Listing of the Health Benefits of Regular Exercise

Over the years I’ve written so many blogs about the health benefits of regular exercise that I’ve often thought of making a catalog of them.  But now someone has done that for me – a physical therapist and lecturer from the University of East Anglia, UK; and he’s published a report in the International Journal of Clinical Practice.  He reviewed 40 papers published in medical journals between 2006 and 2010, and came up with the following benefits that are supported by published clinical evidence:

Living longer

Decreased risk of cardiovascular disease, particularly coronary heart disease.

Decreased risk of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke

Prevention of a second cardiovascular event, i.e. a second heart attack or stroke.

Decreased risk of ‘certain kinds of’ cancers, e.g. colon, prostate

Decreased risk of osteoporosis

Decreased risk of type 2 diabetes

Decreased risk of depression

Decreased risk of obesity

Decreased risk of high blood pressure

Decreased risk of erectile dysfunction

I can add a few more to these, sourced from earlier blogs and elsewhere:

Lower frequency and severity of common colds

Lower risk of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)

Preventing falls at home

Improving fibromyalgia symptoms

Improving insomnia

That should cover many human ills.  I haven’t mentioned some general effects of exercise, such as that ‘feel-good’ feeling, fun, and social interaction.  And if you’ve got excuses ready for not exercising, read the first linked article from UK.