Exercise is Medicine
The ability to do physical activity ranging from physical labour to recreational activities is one of the core elements of being a human being. From early on in life we learn motor skills including walking, grabbing and bending. Throughout life we progress these skills depending on our daily job requirements and activities that we do for fun, but we can also lose them if we do not maintain them.
As humans get older and we do less compared to when we were young (playing outside, kicking a ball around, climbing trees or playing with dolls) we can start to worry about losing our independence and quality of life. A loss of autonomy is a long term outcome of the body’s ageing process where we lose strength, muscle mass and flexibility to do daily tasks unless we maintain those abilities.
In healthcare exercise prescription has shown abundant data to prove its effectiveness in improving quality of life, but often can be seen as a secondary or tertiary intervention compared to medical treatment. Slowly but surely the importance of exercise is becoming more widespread and people are more educated on staying active in ways that they enjoy. From a physiological perspective the benefits of exercise as a stressor help to encourage the body’s tissues to adapt, become stronger and more efficient for day to day life.
Benefits of exercise that are seen in the chronic condition population as well as general wellbeing include:
Increases the length of disability- free life
Improves metabolic function, shifting away from diabetes and cardiovascular disease
Improves physical functioning and quality of life
Increases longevity and mitigates disability in some conditions, as well as helps to manage various health conditions
(based on the ACSM’s fourth edition)
In addition to the benefits we do see some barriers to exercise based on the healthcare system. These include: it is easier to prescribe a pill, counselling patients on lifestyle can be difficult, exercise compliance is commonly low, and many societies and health systems underfund exercise management for the general population.
This reminds us why it is so vital to find something you enjoy and can be consistent with. Know your reasoning for exercise and remind yourself often.
Exercise is not a substitute for medication in many conditions, but helps immensely with the management and improved outcomes overall for health and disease prevention.