Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works dot com
Speaker 1: where smart happens. H I am Marshall Brain with today's question,
Speaker 1: how important is exercise? And I know what you're thinking.
Speaker 1: You're thinking, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know about exercise. It's
Speaker 1: like smoking, you aren't supposed to smoke. And it's like
Speaker 1: being obese, you aren't supposed to gain weight. You're supposed
Speaker 1: to exercise. But why what effects do exercise actually have?
Speaker 1: And a recent study looks at this and discovers that
Speaker 1: exercise is incredibly important to health. It points out that
Speaker 1: people who exercise decrease the risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, dementia, depression, obesity,
Speaker 1: type two diabetes, and high blood pressure, among other things.
Speaker 1: If you go to Science Daily and look at their
Speaker 1: article on this particular study, it says people who take
Speaker 1: regular exercise could reduce their risk of developing around two
Speaker 1: dozen physical and mental health conditions, including some cancers and dementia,
Speaker 1: and slow down how quickly their body deteriorates as they age,
Speaker 1: which sounds pretty good. You know, if you think about it,
Speaker 1: you go out and you do a little exercise and
Speaker 1: you can reduce the risk of all these different things,
Speaker 1: plus help yourself to live longer. There's a lot to
Speaker 1: like about that. So the obvious next question is how
Speaker 1: much exercise are you supposed to get if you want
Speaker 1: to take advantage of all of these great benefits. So
Speaker 1: you go over to the American Heart Association website and
Speaker 1: you can find out the answer to that question. You're
Speaker 1: supposed to try to get at least a hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty minutes of moderate exercise per week, and moderate exercise
Speaker 1: usually translates into something like walking, or it could be
Speaker 1: bike riding or jogging if you want to put out
Speaker 1: some extra effort. But walking is enough, and they'd like
Speaker 1: you to be doing more than that. But a hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty minutes a week is the minimum. And a
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty minutes a week of walking translates into
Speaker 1: taking a half hour walk five days a week, which
Speaker 1: really doesn't sound that bad. So you're gonna go out
Speaker 1: every day and you're gonna walk for half an hour,
Speaker 1: and that's gonna be about a mile and a half
Speaker 1: or two miles if you walk at a really brisk pace.
Speaker 1: If you want to do more, that's even better. The
Speaker 1: American Heart Association would love for you to do some
Speaker 1: weightlifting of some sort, and they'd be ecstatic if you
Speaker 1: did some cardios stuff as well, something that causes you
Speaker 1: to work up a sweat and to breathe deeply. But
Speaker 1: if you don't want to do that stuff, it's fine.
Speaker 1: Just the walking can have an amazing beneficial effect on
Speaker 1: your health. As you know that list of things cancer,
Speaker 1: heart disease, stroke, dementia. Getting rid of those kinds of
Speaker 1: things with a simple walk every day it sounds like
Speaker 1: a pretty good deal. For more on this and thousands
Speaker 1: of other topics, esit how stuff works dot com, and
Speaker 1: don't forget to check out the brain stuff blog on
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