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Benefits Of Exercise Heart Failure:
Diabetes:
Regular exercise, even of moderate intensity, improves insulin sensitivity. In fact, studies of older people who engage in regular, moderate, aerobic exercise (e.g., brisk walking, biking) lower their risk for diabetes even if they don't lose weight. Anyone on insulin or who has complications from diabetes must take special precautions before embarking on a workout program. Osteoporosis:
High-impact weight-bearing exercises, such as step aerobics, are very protective for premenopausal women. These exercises, however, increase the risk for osteoporotic fractures in elderly patients, who would benefit most from regular, brisk, long walks. Even moderate exercise (as little as an hour a week) helps reduce the risk for fracture, but everyone who is in good health should aim for more. Careful weight training is beneficial as well for older women. Low-impact exercises that improve balance and strength, particularly yoga and T'ai Chi, have been found to decrease the risk of falling; in one study, T'ai Chi reduced the risk by almost half. Lung Disease:
Cancer:
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Traditionally,
heart failure patients have been discouraged from exercising.
Now, exercise is proving to be helpful for many of these
patients and, when performed under medical supervision,
does not pose a risk for a heart attack. In one study, patients
between the ages of 61 and 91 increased their oxygen consumption
by 20% after six months by engaging in supervised treadmill
and stationary bicycle exercises. Performing daily hand
grip exercises may improve blood flow through the arteries
of patients with heart failure.
Is
reaching epidemic proportions throughout the world as more
and more cultures adopt Western dietary habits. Aerobic
exercise is proving to have significant and particular benefits
for people with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes; it increases
sensitivity to insulin, lowers blood pressure, improves
cholesterol levels, and decreases body fat.
Exercise
is very important for slowing the progression of osteoporosis.
Women should begin exercising before adolescence, since
bone mass increases during puberty and reaches its peak
between ages 20 and 30. Weight bearing exercise, which applies
tension to muscle and bone, encourages the body to compensate
for the added stress by increasing bone density by as much
as 2% to 8% a year.
Although
exercise does not improve lung function (except for intense,
regular aerobic exercise), training helps some patients
with chronic lung disease by strengthening their limb muscles,
thus improving endurance and reducing breathlessness.
A
number of studies have indicated that regular, even moderate,
exercise reduces the risk of colon cancer. Strenuous activity,
in fact, adds only slight or no additional benefit. Moderate
exercise may also help reduce the risk for prostate cancer
and possibly for breast cancer. A recent study of 100,000
nurses, however, suggested that the benefits of exercise
on breast health may be greater or lesser at different times
in a woman's life, depending on her menstrual status and
estrogen levels. For example, the study found no added protection
against from exercise in young adulthood (when the disease
is uncommon in any case). 
