How do you improve your health?
Dr. Dorothy Sears, Associate Professor of Medicine from UCSD came to speak at the Howell Foundation’s luncheon research on 2 key concerns and how they improve or undermine our health: intermittent fasting and sedentary behavior. Dr. Sears’ current research is focused on determining the accurate and objective measurement of sitting and standing — or sit-to-stand ratio– and physical activity, the contributions of sedentary behavior to our health risks, and the biological and psychosocial outcome of sedentary behaviors and health.
With the just released information from the CDC regarding the obesity epidemic in the US –now at 40% for women– it is more than clear that type 2 diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease are also on the rise. The benefits of a lifestyle makeover are clear: not only does it help to improve our health and reduce the risks of a life-changing disease, but also minimizes the adverse effects of medication while promoting healthy aging.
We believe that exercising IS a simple lifestyle change that can help your overall health. Even though tons of research strongly suggests that exercise benefits practically every single part of your body, the statistics continue to be staggering: only 3 of 10 Americans do enough exercise to keep healthy; 4 of 10 confess they do not exercise at all! It cannot be stressed enough that exercise is a KEY component to maintaining your current and future health. The action of not moving is now on par with the action of smoking.
These are the major considerations to think about while we are sitting down:
- Sedentary behavior is highly associated with obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Risks span over all age groups and gender.
- Sitting for prolonged times after exercise voids the gains of physical activities and does not reduce the risks.
Here are some of the most important benefits of exercise to improve your health. So let’s get moving already!
