If someone asks me what is the one thing that I would recommend that as the maximum impact on promoting health and preventing the sickness, it would have to be physical activity. Exercise is the closest thing we have to the fountain of youth! Over the last century, we have invented hundreds of machines and tools to make us more and more sedentary. But the fact remains that the human body is made to spend most of his waking hours in the upright position, moving fifteen to twenty miles a day. Yes, you read it correct. (much more than the recommended 10,000 steps a pedometer might count).

On average, a person hardly walks about one mile in a day. Today many search for fountain of youth in artificial means and supplements. The truth is there are none. (Read more in Aging Gracefully) Although physical activity in and of itself is not enough to help one lose weight, it is certainly an integral part of a weight management and more importantly, a health management program. When combined with prudent diet (low in sugar, simple carbohydrates, corn syrup saturated fat and trans fat and also low in salt), regular physical activity promises to improve blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar levels and risk for heart attack and stroke. But that’s not all! Exercise:

• has been known to reduce risk for many cancers
• has many mental health benefits too: helping calm anxiety and depression
• improves lung capacity, circulation as well as intestinal motility

In fact, as medical practitioner, I write an exercise prescription for every patient I see because not only is exercise medicine; it is the best preventive medicine. It is effective for over forty of the most commonly seen medical conditions in a busy doctor’s office. I am not suggesting you drop everything and take up walking fifteen miles a day. What is the best exercise? The best exercise is the one that you will do every day because you enjoy it. Go discover your favorite physical activity and you would discover the closest thing to your fountain of youth.