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Perhaps few things are more misunderstood than exercise. In this country we seem to have the concept of exercise completely backwards.
On the one hand, we are almost obsessed with making sure that our kids get plenty of it. We go to great expense making sure that the schools have a large diversity of sports programs, and enthusiastically encourage sports participation.
The irony in all this is that the under 35 group doesn't need exercise. It's obviously good for them, but they don't really need it. The primary needs of young people are nutrition and rest, not exercise.
Then The Rules Change!
However, as many of you will have noticed by now, things start to change as we get a few years under our belt, and the simple fact is that the older we are, the more we need to exercise. A seventy year old man needs exercise more than his 45 year old son.
Exercise is essential to detoxification and optimal energy production. It will counter the age associated decrease in muscle mass, strengthen the immune system, improve cardiovascular function, and slow down the rate at which you will age. Just how all this works is discussed in detail in Dr. Shallenberger’s book Bursting With Energy.
Those of us who want to delay the aging process, and function at a much younger level need to understand that exercise is the ultimate key.
Nutrition, stress, hormonal replacement, detoxification are important, but not nearly as critical as exercise, because exercise is what puts all those components together in the dynamic state known as health.
An Anti-Aging Pill?
Many gerontologists regard exercise as the closest thing to an anti-aging pill that we have. A regular program of physical activity can go far in slowing or reversing many physiologic changes and illnesses associated with aging.
A recent article in the Archives of Internal Medicine demonstrated that men who were physically unfit were almost three times as likely to die from ALL CAUSES, including cancer, even after the researchers accounted for age, smoking, and alcohol use. Yes, that means you are better off exercising and smoking, than not exercising and not smoking!
Other studies have shown that exercise reduces the incidence of both breast and ovarian cancer by a very significant margin, and colon cancer by 50%!
If you like sex, you'll love exercise!
Impotence occurs in 25% of all men over the age of 65. Several review articles on this subject have shown that men who regularly exercise have a much lower incidence of this problem.
Prozak Or Situps?
Exercise is the healthiest way to treat depression. In an article appearing in Psychosomatic Medicine in October 2000, the researchers concluded that exercise is just as effective at relieving depression as the latest anti-depressant medications, and with none of the side effects.
Additionally, patients who exercised actually had better long term results than those on the medications. After only 6 months of treatment, the patients on medications had a three times greater relapse rate than those who exercised!
“Honey, I Can't Remember Where I Put The Barbells”
Exercise also prevents Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia as well as the usual mental decline associated with aging. It is also a very effective treatment for insomnia.
A Good Addiction
So if you don't mind being overweight, impotent, sick, tired, depressed, and confused, I guess you can skip this exercise part and just move on to the next section.
Seriously though, establishing a routine exercise program takes a little doing, but once you get in shale you will be hooked. It is truly addicting, and it will improve the quality of your life more than anything other lifestyle habit.
Can you overdo it?
The short answer is definitely yes. Dr. Shallenberger published a study in December 2004 edition of The Townsend Letter for Doctors, entitled, “Is your patient exercising too hard to be healthy?” <link> In this study, Dr. Shallenberger demonstrated that close to 100% of people who exercise are doing it in a way that is harmful and counter productive.
The best way to be sure you are exercising properly is through Bio-Energy Testing®. Bio-Energy Testing® makes it possible to precisely prescribe an exercise program for people of all ages, and with all conditions. For a list of physicians offering Bio-Energy Testing®, please click here.
Dr. S’s 5-10 Rule
How many times have you arrived at your regularly scheduled exercise only to not surprisingly discover that you really don't want to?
For most people this happens about 80% of the time. "I'm too tired," or, "I just don't feel like it right now" seem to be the favorite excuses.
A long time ago Dr. Shallenberger had to develop a way of dealing with this in order to have any kind of regular exercise schedule. After all, he realized that there are those days in which your biorhythms just are not lined up for exercise. So he came up with his 5-10 rule. Try it and see if it works as well for you as it has for him.
It goes like this:
1. No matter what you feel like, start your exercise. No excuses whatsoever!
2. If after 5 minutes of exercise you actually feel worse than you did when you started, you get to quit.
3. If after 10 minutes of exercise you don't actually feel better than you did before you started, you can quit.
People who have used this little usually only end up quitting a very small percentage of the time, just reaffirming the incredible value of exercise on both the physical and mental level.
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