Since this is a wellness blog, I feel a constant urge to get readers more enthusiastic about one of life’s pleasures — exercise. Here’s yet another article from the New York Times (Personal Health – Studies Show Further Health Benefits of Exercise) which details the latest medical literature regarding exercise’s many benefits for:

• Cancer
• Heart Disease
• Osteoporosis
• Dementia
• Diabetes

It’s an easy read and may give you a little push to start your routine! The article also addresses the common research skepticism regarding exercise:

Sedentary skeptics are fond of saying that of course exercise is associated with good health as one ages; the people who exercise are healthy to begin with. But studies in which some participants are randomly assigned to a physical activity program and others to a placebo (like simply being advised to exercise) call their bluff. Even less exacting observational studies, like the Nurses’ Health Study, take into account the well-being of participants at enrollment.

Thus, in one of the new studies, Dr. Qi Sun of Harvard School of Public Health and co-authors reported that among the 13,535 nurses who were healthy when they joined the study in 1986, those who reported higher levels of activity in midlife were far more likely to still be healthy a decade or more later at age 70. The study found that physical activity increased the nurses’ chances of remaining healthy regardless of body weight, although those who were both lean and active had “the highest odds of successful survival.”