Does Exercise Really Keep Us Healthy?
 

*runs for the hills*

http://health.nytimes.com/ref/healt...ercise-ess.html



Click link for details.

I did a calculation on exercise similar to one done by Dr M D Eades in "The 6 week curure for the middle age middle".

I went to the calorie calculator at
http://walking.about.com/library/cal/uccalc1.htm
and I input my body weight 190 lbs and a slow hiking rate of 2 - 2.5 miles per hour and a 1000 mile distance.

I got 107955 Calories burned, which when divided by 3,500 cal/pound give 30.84 lbs of weight loss.

So, there is some theoretical possibility of the lack of exercise causing weight loss.

On the other hand, Gina Kolata didn't get along well with Gary Taubes, and was one of those who editorially rejected the book Good Calories Bad Calories.

Now one of his claims on weight loss is one that she appears to support.

I really dislike this second rate "science" of diet and health.

I dunno. I just got back from my hill-walking (which I do primarily for fitness), and decided to run a few of the hills to get my heart rate up. So after the third interval I puked in the bushes. This likely increased my caloric deficit for the day. Voila!

The author does not cite any references for these opinions...at least, I didn't see any. She does have a link at the bottom of the page to ads for recruits for clinical trials that test these hypotheses.

It's so annoying when writers make bald statements like these, without anything to back them up. And it's lazy. Well, I guess I'm a little lazy, too. I'm not going to search all over the Net trying to prove or disprove what she's saying unless I'm writing an article of my own!

Thank you, Mathmaniac, for posting the link to an article about how exercise alone does not necessarily lead to weight loss.

Do these people not work with older people? I don't care what anyone says, use it or lose it. I know too many older and unfortunately younger people, thin and heavy, who simply cannot function physically as they should because they do not exercise.

She just said it's been oversold, kind of like statins. I mean come on, you look at any news outlet and they're promoting exercise for the ailment du jour. She never said is was bad or totally useless either.

Such skepticism, however timid, warms my heart because the press is so shy about saying anything contrary to popular public opinion on diet and exercise.... and statins.

Yes and it is ironic Gina Kolata is echoing Gary Taubes.

NYT has had repeated articles on why the (very) elderly should be doing weight lifting type exercises. Retain enough strength to get up from the toilet or chair. Enough hip mobility and strength to walk and move strongly and not fall. This is perhaps the most dramatic and proven benefit of exercise. For the rest of us the case can be made that just moving a lot is beneficial. I do a lot of heavy intense exercise, and percieve all sorts of benefits. But other people do it other ways. Winston Churchill maintained his long life was due to exercise - carrying the caskets of all of his friends who exercised!

I think the problem is that what people call exercise today was just "life" not too long ago KWIM?

IMO, exercise has been really oversold in terms of helping people lose weight, on that I agree. I also agree that exercise alone usually won't reduce blood pressure or improve lipid profiles, for that I truly believe you need a low-carb diet.

However if I just look around at elderly people who are still mobile, independent and getting the most out of life, they are those people who have been and stayed active all their lives.

Well, I'm sedentary and plan to start walk, um, soon. Glad I'll be among those who benefit.



I think the latter. I'd also guess that those who exercise regularly have metabolisms that use energy differently than those of us who don't.

If your body utilizes energy properly, you'll enjoy "exercise" and you'll keep doing it.

If you're like me, though, exercise is torture.

Here is an audio tape about exercise, vlc, and obesity. Near the end it explains why obese people should not exercise and it's not about hunger it's about inflammation.These doctors state that exercise boosts metabolism in lean people but actually slows it down for obese people. If you don't want to listen to the entire thing the last 15 minutes will suffice.

Drs. Stephen Phinney, Eric Westman and Jay Wortman are interviewed.

http://hoe.kgnu.net/audio/shows/184.mp3

I am going to be 60 on Thursday, no one believes it. I have walked at least 3 miles a day for years. Last Sat I did 7 and 3 on Sunday. I go to Jazzercise 3 or 4 times a week. I snowshoe in winter and kayak in summer. If I didn't exercise I would be like my older sister who at 63 can barely climb the steps.

Right, you're giving credit to the exercise. But the thing is it could be a lot of reasons why you're doing better than your sister, including ones you have no control over.

The question of "does exercise help our health" is a totally different one than "does exercise help us lose weight." I'm not at all convinced that exercise — cardio or weight-training or anything else — is helpful for losing pounds. But I AM convinced that various forms of exercise have health benefits that might be unrelated to losing weight. We have all been around the block enough to know that "health" and "thin" aren't the same thing.