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by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.
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Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

Exercise Is Not For Sissies!

Friday September 7, 2001

Most of the research done relative to exercise is in relationship to heart disease or some other illness or medical problem that physicians and other investigators link to sedentary lifestyles. Unfortunately, little of this research seeks to explore and document the positive returns from high levels of physical fitness, such as increased work performance, better life quality, added energy levels and similar advantages apart from not dying prematurely.

Yet, exceptional levels of exercise and fitness are believed to play a role in our continued evolution as individuals, not just as members of a species. Our environment changes all the time, and these changes invite new survival challenges. Which organisms do you suppose are most likely to successfully manage successful adaptations to the new conditions, and thereby improve their prospects of replication, assuming that they are (unlike yours truly) still interested in replicating! The fit ones, of course, at least that's how it seems to me. Does this not seem likely to you, also? Unlike in the not so distant past, current humans no longer must depend upon brute physical strength or food gathering successes to survive (and engage in full or partial replication activities). Rather, we need the fitness levels necessary to maintain stable mental outlooks in our fast paced, information and technology-driven world.

A new study suggests that physically unfit adults think they exercise more vigorously than they do. This study out of the University of Florida (published in the July issue of Preventive Medicine) further suggests that the pitiful amount of exercise many do perform not only contributes little to life quality and adaptation to the changing environment but also does not even prevent heart disease. The problem many folks encounter, investigators conclude, is that too many folks exercise like sissies, that is, at nearly meaningless levels of intensity. My advice is this: If you are going to go to the trouble of exercising at all, do it with enough enthusiasm and energy expenditure to make something of the experience.

If you exercise sufficiently, you will gain in two broad ways: you will reduce your risk of dying from heart disease and you will increase your prospects for raised life quality. The latter is the best payoff, in my view, but the first should not be discounted. After all, approximately 960,000 Americans die each year from cardiovascular disease. What's more, 250,000 of those deaths are directly attributed to a lack of regular, sufficiently intense physical activity.

Tomorrow I'll add some more details to the situation regarding the dainty level of exercise in this country. For now, I will stop where I am in order that you can go out right now and get some SERIOUS exercise rather than encouraging more sedentary activity by continuing this essay, thereby endangering your heart and the quality of your life!

All the best. Stay well, work out and look on the bright side of life.

Domain: physical
Subdomain: exercise and fitness

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