People who take regular exercise are significantly less likely to develop potentially dangerous growths in their bowel than those who do not, a study has found.

Scientists at the Washington University School of Medicine analysed data contained in 20 previous studies, all of which had looked at the impact of exercise on the development of bowel polyps – growths that can develop into bowel cancer.

They found that people who exercised regularly were 16 per cent less likely to develop bowel polyps, and 30 per cent less likely to develop large or advanced growths.

The findings, which are published in the British Journal of Cancer, add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that exercise can reduce a person’s risk of bowel cancer. Read the rest of this entry »

People should aim to walk two miles each day in order to achieve the optimum level of exercise, a health expert has claimed.

Dr William Bird, a GP and strategic health advisor to Natural England, said that walking provides a number of beneficial effects for both the body and the mind.

He claimed: ‘Walking has exactly the same beneficial effects on mood and fighting depression as psychological treatments such as cognitive behaviour treatment, and it is more effective than diet, and equal to giving up smoking in the health benefits it brings.’

According to Dr Bird, a person’s blood pressure and pulse rate drop when they head outdoors. Read the rest of this entry »

Most people understand that eating healthy foods and engaging in regular exercise will help them achieve a healthy weight. For obese people, however, these ideals can be difficult to accomplish. Diets often fail because the dieter reverts to previous eating habits afterward, and experts advise small, steady lifestyle changes whose results will endure long-term.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control encourages keeping a list of daily food habits, including what you eat and how quickly. It also promotes reviewing the cues that trigger excess eating, such as boredom, emotional distress and easily accessible sweets and junk food. Simple changes such as eating more slowly, putting your fork down between bites, drinking more water and planning healthy meals ahead can add up to many calories saved over the course of a day. Read the rest of this entry »

The old thought was that vigorous exercise could be dangerous to people at risk for heart disease. Emerging evidence suggests that the more vigorous the workout, the more value to your heart—though short, 15-minute spurts of exercise may be as beneficial as one marathon session.

One cardiovascular death per year may be preventable for every 145 people with diabetes who are persuaded to walk at least two hours a week, according to researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Exercise keeps you ticking
David Cullen’s brother Steve died of a heart attack in 1995 at age 40. In 2002 two more of his brothers died of the same fate, one day apart. Cullen, a state representative from Milwaukee, doesn’t expect to die young. At 5’11″, he weighs only 165 pounds and has low cholesterol. He credits his good health to running six to eight miles each day.

How exercise clears arteries
Exercise helps dilate the body’s blood vessels and enables blood to circulate more freely, said Byung-il William Choi, MD, a professor of cardiovascular medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

In one study Harvard researchers found up to a 20% reduction of heart-disease risk for those who most frequently got vigorous exercise. This category included running or jogging, swimming laps, playing tennis, or doing aerobics. Read the rest of this entry »