From the emails I get, and I get lots, one of the most
fervent wishes out there is for a magic bullet, a simple formula, that would
lessen the chances of developing chronic illness as we age, something that is
of major concern to all us rapidly-aging baby boomers.
Well, we do have such a magic bullet.
Trouble is, it’s not in the form of a pill or a potion.
Rather, it’s in the form of exercise.
Thus, according to a terrific review in the BMJ, exercise is
at least as good as medication for the prevention and relief of most chronic
illnesses such as high blood pressure and heart disease.
In fact, the only common chronic condition which this review
found responded better to medication than to exercise was heart failure.
Disturbingly, though, these researchers point out that we
just don’t have nearly as good-as-we’d-like long-term data on exercise because
researchers focus most of their attention on drugs rather than on exercise.
This is a no-brainer: exercise has few risks, lots of
benefits, and can be very cheap.
Drugs have lots of risks, often minimal benefits, and costs
a ton.
Plus, it’s rare to get off drugs once you start on them.
Which would you rather put your faith in?
