Every year, 1.2 million Americans have a heart attack. Exercise affects the function of hearth muscle, but it also affects the blood vessels, from the large aortic artery to the large capillaries. Exercise: can boost your HDL (“good”) cholesterol makes the lining of blood vessels more flexible has beneficial effects on risk factors for heart […]
The cost of inactivity – brain
It’s bad enough that inactivity can turn your muscles to Jell-O. Can it do the same to your brain? “The evidence is fairly solid that people who are more physically active are at lower risk for cognitive decline and dementia,” says Constantine Lyketsos, director of the division of geriatric psychiatry and neuropsychiatry at Johns Hopkins […]
The cost of inactivity – cancer
“The evidence is fairly clear now that men and women who are physically active have a 30 to 40 percent lower risk of colon cancer compared to individuals who are not active,” says Harvard’s I-Min Lee, who examined dozens of studies. Experts have several theories that might explain how physical activity protects the colon. ” […]
The cost of inactivity – diabetes
“The one thing that seems to deteriorate quickest with inactivity is insulin sensitivity,” says Ben Hurley, a professor of kinesiology at the university of Maryland at College park. Type 2 diabetes by far the most common kind occurs when the body becomes insensitive, or resistant, to insulin in the blood. When insulin stops working, blood […]