Being physically active on a regular basis is good for your health, but there is one fact that may be a surprise. One exercise session, on one day, has health benefits. That’s right! There are measurable positive short-term adaptations to exercise that occur after only one session. You should not interpret this as meaning that you only have to exercise once and all will be well. Not true! The guidelines established by the American College of Sports Medicine, the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society and the American Diabetes Association state clearly that regular exercise is a key to health and prevention of some chronic diseases. Those guidelines are correct! But what happens after only one bout of exercise?
If a chronically sedentary person participates in one session of exercise, his/her insulin sensitivity is markedly better. How much better? After one bout of exercise there is a 25-50% improvement in the way insulin works and the improvement lasts for between 24-48 hrs. The bottom line is that exercise helps the pancreas perform its functions better and this, along with a good diet (reduced calorie/low fat/low simple sugar), is a great way to decrease your chances of developing Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.
Can a single exercise session offer any protection for the heart if a heart attack does occur? The answer is a “qualified” yes. The reason for the “qualified” is that it is simply impossible to directly study this problem in humans. You can’ t make a person have a heart attack just to study if prior exercise helps you avoid some damage to the heart muscle. However, there are some compelling facts BASED SOLEY ON STUDIES USING ANIMALS that suggest that a single bout of exercise reduces the damaging effects of a heart attack if it happens. This cardioprotection seems to last for at least 24 hrs.
As for hypertension, a single session of endurance type exercise leads to a short term reduction in systolic blood pressure by about 18-20 mmHg and diastolic of 7-9 mmHg for normally sedentary hypertensive people and slightly lower reductions for people who do not have this disease.
Hormone secretion(such as insulin for diabetes), heart benefits (prevention of heart attacks), hypertension (blood pressure) are all affected positively by exercise.
Let me repeat what I said at the start: you should not interpret what I have written as meaning that you only have to exercise once and all will be well. Not true! Exercising on a regular basis is a key to health.
While this blog has concentrated on the positive effects of exercise, those positive effects are even greater when exercise is performed on a regular basis. The body undergoes many changes which bring us back to being physiologically closer to our ancestors who had to work long and hard to simply eat and survive. Just know that when you start a program of regular physical activity, the benefits start on the very first day.
Simply walking, for starters, is beneficial to overall health. Walking a distance that you can sustain daily is a goal. Ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes -- whatever you can do today, and will do tomorrow and continue to do daily or at least 5 days a week is a worthwhile pursuit...for your health.
