Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Exercise Can Lead To An Early Death?

Exercise Can Lead To An Early Death?

Just like all things in our society, there are many myths about exercise. Dr. Wilson recently reported some of the myths surrounding exercise. There was a time when we heard stories of athletes that died suddenly, and it shocked us. This news no longer shocks us because we are hearing it more and more often. I've already explained in previous blogs about the yin and yang balance in our life and how the people that seem the healthiest, may just well be the ones that are most susceptible to diseases and an early death. While exercise provides benefits, the wrong kind of exercise can kill you.

Myth #1. Strong muscles and a beautiful body indicate you are in good health.
These may make you feel like you have health, and everyone may tell you how wonderful you look. However, I work with people who look great, but have cancer or some other disease. It is certainly wise to care for your body, but health goes far beyond muscles and fat content. Don't judge yourself and others only in terms of how much exercise you can do. Physical strength is only one parameter of health.

Myth #2. A healthy heart and healthy arteries indicate you are healthy.
This is a recent fetish. Experience with many people shows that if your body chemistry is truly in balance, your arteries and heart will be fine. Gentle exercise is beneficial for everyone, but a narrow-minded focus on cardiovascular fitness is insane. Recently a 25-year old woman consulted me complaining of fatigue and depression. She was doing aerobic exercise 3-5 evenings a week. Her heart and arteries were probably fine, but her glandular system was so exhausted she could hardly get out of bed in the morning. Her hair analysis indicated a depleted, exhausted body. Exercise was just aggravating the problem. This case is typical of the 'exhausted exerciser'.

Myth #3. Exercise rebuilds your body.
Exercise assists circulation of the blood and oxygenation of tissues, and can help rebuilding in this sense. Mild to moderate exercise is excellent for these purposes. Excessive exercise, however, can stress the heart, arteries, and glands. They are forced them to respond to stress, and to use up energy in that response. Muscles enlarge as a response or accommodation to stress. Healing and rebuilding is largely a biochemical phenomenon, requiring proper nutrients, and often requiring rest so that energy can be directed to the area in need of healing. Research supports the idea that moderate exercise can provide the same benefits as vigorous exercise. The point is, don't overdo exercise any more than you would overdo any other activity. To exercise when you feel well is great. To exercise "in order to feel well" is skating on thin ice. Today, most people are subtly malnourished due to consumption of food that is low in trace elements and other nutrients. No amount of exercise will make up for these deficiencies. It is a mistake to think you can compensate for a biochemical problem by exercising. The result will be that you will feel well for a while. Later, you will find yourself addicted to exercise. If you skip it for two days, you will feel depressed, irritable or exhausted. This occurs because exercise stimulates the adrenal glands and can keep exhausted glands functioning - like whipping a tired horse. If you stop whipping, naturally the horse will not feel like getting up.

Myth #4. Exercise cannot be harmful.
Most marathon runners are good for several years. Then they must retire because they are 'burned out'. Many professional athletes die young. Indeed, they have one of the shortest life spans of any group of adults. The slow heartbeat of professional runners is due in part to their healthy heart, but also due to a mechanism to slow their metabolism, because they put such strain on their heart. Cysteine is released from muscle tissue and slows the thyroid. The idea that since a little is good, more must be better, can be lethal when applied to exercise.

The great exercise guru, Dr. Kenneth Cooper, author of Aerobics, recently changed his mind about heavy exercise. According to his press release, he became disturbed by repeated stories of young people, supposedly in the best of shape, who developed cancer or had heart attacks at a young age. He has realized that gentle moderate exercise is plenty and no longer recommends the same level of vigorous exercise he once advocated.