One of our favorite quotes at 3mph, is “Let food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food.” We’ve always attributed the quote to Hippocrates, the 1st doctor. Research however, suggests that Hippocrates never uttered those words. It doesn’t really matter who said it first, we love the concept and strive to make it part of our daily life.
Even if Hippocrates never said food is medicine, it’s obvious from his writings, that diet and lifestyle were the most powerful tools a doctor had at his disposal to treat the diseases of man. He was a strong proponent of walking. An after dinner stroll was a common prescription he gave to his patients. In essence – “Exercise is Medicine,” perhaps they got the quote wrong from the Good Greek Doctor.
Unhealthy Behavior
Here is part of an abstract from a white paper I read recently, titled; “Exercise is Medicine.”
“There is overwhelming evidence in the scientific and medical literature that physical inactivity is a major public health problem with a wide array of harmful effects. Over 50% of health status can be attributed to unhealthy behaviors with smoking, diet, and physical inactivity as the main contributors.”
Here are the opening paragraphs:
Physical inactivity underlies many of the chronic conditions that affect people worldwide, has an astonishing array of harmful health effects, and is associated with escalating health care costs. For example, 7 cancers have been linked to a physically inactive lifestyle. Depression affects 17 million Americans and has been directly linked to insufficient physical activity.
Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias are increasing at a frightening rate. By 2025, the number of people aged 65 years and older with Alzheimer’s disease is expected to reach 7.1 million people. In the United States alone, more than 30 million adults are estimated to have diabetes. Considering that a new case of diabetes is diagnosed every 21 seconds, it is no surprise that diabetes is the most expensive disease in America.
“There is no medication treatment that can influence as many organ systems in a positive manner as can physical activity.” ~ JAMA Internal Medicine
Vigorous Exercise
Sitting on the couch, binge watching Netflix with a bag of Cheetos wasn’t even possible a few generations ago. Even at the beginning of my generation a few decades ago, a normal person pretty much had to do regular vigorous work just to survive. Today however, technology has enabled us to drift away from using our muscles to make things happen.
There was no opting out back then but that’s not the case in the present age. Physical activity is seen as optional and the outcome of that attitude, is the present pandemic of obesity, diabetes and a host of other civilizational diseases. The truth is that physical activity is not optional. Without strenuous exercise once in a while, you will end up sick or depressed.
There are dozens of medical journal articles that attest the fact. What’s weird is that it seems obvious, at least to me; get some vigorous exercise or get sick and die. Is there a valid reason not to choose exercise? There really is only one option, unless your goal is to get sick and die. I’m not trying to scare you – okay, actually I am.
Scared Healthy
Remember the 1978 documentary, “Scared Straight!” They took a bunch of juvenile delinquents to prison, where the lifers terrified the shit out of them. The intent of course was to give them a good scare in hope they would turn from their evil ways. What about a new documentary; “Scared Healthy!”
Take a bunch of fat little grade schoolers to the hospital and show them all the beds full of obese diabetics with various limbs amputated. That should scare the shit out of them, right? Probably not. When we’re young our frontal lobes aren’t yet fully developed. The brains wiring is not completely functional until about 25-30 years of age.
Women mature about 15% sooner than men but neither is able to anticipate the consequences of their actions until their frontal lobes complete the process of myelination. This probably explains the attraction to illicit drugs and alcohol in our youth. I call it the “Immortality Complex.” And even when we begin to grasp the consequences of our actions; disease, sickness and death still only register as something that happens to others – not us, we’re immortal;>)
Immortal or Just Dumb?
Back when I was dumb kid, before my frontal lobes started working very well, I embraced a quote by one of my favorite writers:
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!” ~ Hunter S. Thompson
Once myelination manifested and I’d collected a bit of wisdom, I realized just how important a well preserved body actually is. The concept of totally worn out; lost all of its appeal, if it ever really had any. It was just the immature, faulty frontal lobes speaking anyway. No one truly desires to be worn out, used up and overwhelmed by sickness and disease.
Since we’re on the topic of fear, sickness and disease we might as well touch on COVID-19. I just read an interesting paper titled – “Exercise is the Most Important Medicine for COVID-19.” There’s a significant list of references that I haven’t checked out yet but I pretty much agreed with the title of the paper before even reading it. I’m on board with Hippocrates on the matter. Click the link to see the entire paper or here’s an interesting summary figure.
Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Do you want to be the best version of yourself? The best medicine for sick and tired is exercise. It isn’t a magic pill though; exercise is hard and it takes discipline to stick with it but it’s vital to your overall health. Diet and exercise are the cure for most of the chronic conditions and diseases impacting millions of folks all around the Great Wide World.