BE PROACTIVE

Exercise your way to a disease free life.

Have you ever wondered what it would take to lower your risk of heart disease? What about neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s? Did you know that exercise and increased physical activity could help lower your risk of both? As most of us know, heart disease is the leading cause of death across the globe. This means that many of us are susceptible to a shorter life because of it. A few brainiacs read a bunch of research in 2006 and found that “being fit or active was associated with a greater than 50% reduction in risk” of developing heart disease (Warburton, Nicol, & Bredin, 2006). That is at least one in two people who were able to reduce their risks with just a little more exercise or physical activity. Alzheimer’s Disease, which affects fewer people, but is subjectively more emotionally painful, is preceded by atrophy of the brain. In 2016, a large group of scientists pointed out that “physical activity and fitness may mitigate brain atrophy as both have been positively associated with gray matter volume” (Dougherty et al., 2016). It is nice to know that just walking a little bit further to class, going for a jog, or playing with kids or friends in a pool might prevent our brains from rotting away or our hearts from suddenly stopping.