WEBVTT - How valuable is exercise to your health?

0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:03.600
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works dot com

0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:14.640
<v Speaker 1>where smart happens. H I am Marshall Brain with today's question,

0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:18.720
<v Speaker 1>how important is exercise? And I know what you're thinking.

0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:21.599
<v Speaker 1>You're thinking, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know about exercise. It's

0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:24.200
<v Speaker 1>like smoking, you aren't supposed to smoke. And it's like

0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:27.440
<v Speaker 1>being obese, you aren't supposed to gain weight. You're supposed

0:00:27.480 --> 0:00:32.120
<v Speaker 1>to exercise. But why what effects do exercise actually have?

0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:36.199
<v Speaker 1>And a recent study looks at this and discovers that

0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:41.400
<v Speaker 1>exercise is incredibly important to health. It points out that

0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:51.479
<v Speaker 1>people who exercise decrease the risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, dementia, depression, obesity,

0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:55.640
<v Speaker 1>type two diabetes, and high blood pressure, among other things.

0:00:56.040 --> 0:00:58.240
<v Speaker 1>If you go to Science Daily and look at their

0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:02.480
<v Speaker 1>article on this particular study, it says people who take

0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:06.959
<v Speaker 1>regular exercise could reduce their risk of developing around two

0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:12.320
<v Speaker 1>dozen physical and mental health conditions, including some cancers and dementia,

0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:17.360
<v Speaker 1>and slow down how quickly their body deteriorates as they age,

0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:20.240
<v Speaker 1>which sounds pretty good. You know, if you think about it,

0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:22.480
<v Speaker 1>you go out and you do a little exercise and

0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.840
<v Speaker 1>you can reduce the risk of all these different things,

0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:28.720
<v Speaker 1>plus help yourself to live longer. There's a lot to

0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:33.160
<v Speaker 1>like about that. So the obvious next question is how

0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:36.160
<v Speaker 1>much exercise are you supposed to get if you want

0:01:36.160 --> 0:01:39.280
<v Speaker 1>to take advantage of all of these great benefits. So

0:01:39.360 --> 0:01:42.000
<v Speaker 1>you go over to the American Heart Association website and

0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:44.800
<v Speaker 1>you can find out the answer to that question. You're

0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:47.280
<v Speaker 1>supposed to try to get at least a hundred and

0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:52.680
<v Speaker 1>fifty minutes of moderate exercise per week, and moderate exercise

0:01:52.760 --> 0:01:56.640
<v Speaker 1>usually translates into something like walking, or it could be

0:01:56.680 --> 0:02:00.200
<v Speaker 1>bike riding or jogging if you want to put out

0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:03.400
<v Speaker 1>some extra effort. But walking is enough, and they'd like

0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:06.560
<v Speaker 1>you to be doing more than that. But a hundred

0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:10.160
<v Speaker 1>and fifty minutes a week is the minimum. And a

0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:13.520
<v Speaker 1>hundred and fifty minutes a week of walking translates into

0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:17.440
<v Speaker 1>taking a half hour walk five days a week, which

0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:20.760
<v Speaker 1>really doesn't sound that bad. So you're gonna go out

0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:23.440
<v Speaker 1>every day and you're gonna walk for half an hour,

0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:25.359
<v Speaker 1>and that's gonna be about a mile and a half

0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:28.160
<v Speaker 1>or two miles if you walk at a really brisk pace.

0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:30.680
<v Speaker 1>If you want to do more, that's even better. The

0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:33.639
<v Speaker 1>American Heart Association would love for you to do some

0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:37.200
<v Speaker 1>weightlifting of some sort, and they'd be ecstatic if you

0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:40.560
<v Speaker 1>did some cardios stuff as well, something that causes you

0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:43.040
<v Speaker 1>to work up a sweat and to breathe deeply. But

0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:45.440
<v Speaker 1>if you don't want to do that stuff, it's fine.

0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:50.120
<v Speaker 1>Just the walking can have an amazing beneficial effect on

0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:54.200
<v Speaker 1>your health. As you know that list of things cancer,

0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:57.760
<v Speaker 1>heart disease, stroke, dementia. Getting rid of those kinds of

0:02:57.800 --> 0:03:00.560
<v Speaker 1>things with a simple walk every day it sounds like

0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:04.680
<v Speaker 1>a pretty good deal. For more on this and thousands

0:03:04.680 --> 0:03:07.359
<v Speaker 1>of other topics, esit how stuff works dot com, and

0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:09.360
<v Speaker 1>don't forget to check out the brain stuff blog on

0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:11.600
<v Speaker 1>the how stuff Works dot com home page. You can

0:03:11.639 --> 0:03:14.680
<v Speaker 1>also follow brain stuff on Facebook or Twitter at brain

0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:19.880
<v Speaker 1>stuff hs W. The House Stuff Works iPhone app has arrived.

0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:21.960
<v Speaker 1>Download it today on iTunes.