Exercise Helps You Live Longer

Traditional Chinese Medicine doesn't diagnose illness, it diagnoses imbalance. The medicine is based on two major philosophies - Yin/Yang Theory and Five Element Theory - and the interactions of internal organs, both good and bad, makeup most of the diagnoses I use every day in the clinic.

For example, a patient comes into the office complaining of insomnia. They have a hard time falling asleep, a red complexion, dark urination, and a rapid pulse. These are the symptoms of a pattern known as "Heart Fire."

The most common diagnosis that I see in the clinic is a condition known as "Liver Qi Stagnation." Patients are frustrated, stressed-out. Many times, their digestion is not satisfactory or their appetite is down. Sometimes they get headaches. Sometimes it's just PMS.

In other words, Chinese Medicine equates stagnation, or lack of movement, with physiological imbalance.

I treat patients with acupuncture and herbs, which work, but also I always prescribe exercise. If patients follow my advice, they always report feeling better. Happier. More alert. Their minor physical complaints disappear. Exercise benefits body, mind and spirit.

If you're not convinced by ancient wisdom that has survived 2,000 years of clinical practice, I've included the results of a recently completed 20-year study details the health benefits of exercise.

Published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, this study focused on more than 500 participants aged 50 and older and followed them for a 20 year period. The study was divided into two groups - runners and non-runners - and found that runners gained the following health benefits:

• improved aerobic capacity
• better cardiovascular health
• lower inflammatory markers
• increased bone mass
• less physical disability
• improved thinking, learning and memory
• improved response to vaccinations

By the end of the 19 year study, 15 percent of the runners had died, compared to 34 percent of non-runners. Most non-runners experienced some sort of problem with daily living, such as difficulty dressing, while runners experienced none, for the most part.

The authors of the study stressed that any kind of vigorous cardiovascular exercise would produce the same health benefits.

If you want to feel better and live longer, start exercising and keep exercising.