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Sunday, February 9, 2025

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New Research Shows Exercise Benefits Every Cell in the Body

New research shows that exercise offers numerous benefits beyond weight loss, including sharper thinking, reduced risks of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer, and improved sleep, among other benefits.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that adults do at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week, or an equivalent combination.

While many Americans start each new year with resolutions to lose weight, fitness experts caution that people may overestimate how many calories they burn when exercising, or they may not do enough to move the scale.

For instance, a 30-minute cardio workout that leaves someone sweaty and breathless may only burn 200 to 300 calories, which can be quickly undone by consuming just one doughnut.

Despite these challenges, exercise remains essential for good health.

“Research shows that exercise affects pretty much every cell in the body, not just our heart, not just our muscles, but it also affects all the other organs, as well,” said Glenn Gaesser, a professor of exercise physiology at Arizona State University.

Exercise can also help cancer patients and survivors.

While the data is based mainly on observational studies, researchers suggest that intentional weight loss is associated with a reduction in mortality risk of 10 percent to 15 percent, whereas increasing physical activity or improving fitness is associated with a reduction in mortality risk of 15 percent to 60 percent.

Therefore, “just being physically active and trying to improve your fitness seems to provide better prospects for longevity than just trying to lose weight,” Gaesser said.

Exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle, even if it doesn’t always result in weight loss. As Nina McCollum, a 52-year-old exercise enthusiast, said, “I don’t care anymore that I’m not like a stick figure”. Instead, she is focused on staying fit, strong, and flexible as she ages, keeping healthy and trying to ward off heart disease, which runs in her family.

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