Overturning Traditional Wisdom - Exercise Now Shown to Slowdown Multiple Sclerosis

We all know some of the obvious benefits of exercise - lowering blood pressure, cardiovascular health, losing weight, and improving your mood - but now studies are showing that exercise can do even more. It’s been recently found that exercise can slow down the progression of multiple sclerosis.

The degenerative disease damages the brain and spinal cord, causing effects including: loss of muscle control, vision, balance, sensations, and cognitive abilities.

It’s unknown what causes MS, but genetics is one common factor. MS is an autoimmune disease, which means that the nerves of the brain and spinal cord are damaged by a person’s own immune system.

The two most common forms of the disease, according to WebMD, are:

• Relapsing-remitting MS: characterized by unpredictable acute attacks, called ‘exacerbations,’ with worsening symptoms, followed by full, partial, or no recovery of some function. These attacks can evolve over several days to weeks. Recovery from an attack can take weeks and sometimes months. In most people, this pattern usually occurs early in the course of MS.
• Primary-progressive MS: characterized by a gradual but steady progression of disability, without any obvious relapses and remissions. This form of disease occurs in just 15% of all people with MS, but it is the most common type of MS in people who develop the disease after the age of 40.

To understand exactly how exercise helps slow down the progression of MS, first you have to understand a little bit more about how the disease works.

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Strenuous Exercise Shown to Increase Longevity in Men with Prostate/Colon Cancer, Say Studies

We’ve all known for years that exercise has many health benefits including lowering high blood pressure, blood sugar, and cardiovascular disease. Well now, multiple studies are also confirming that strenuous exercise a few times a week in men being treated for prostate or colon cancer can increase their chances of remission and long-term survival.

Earlier this month, findings presented at the American Association for Cancer Research’s Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference showed that “men who engaged in five or more hours of vigorous physical activity [during] a week, were at decreased risk of dying from their prostate cancer.”

Researchers assessed the physical activity level for 2,686 patients in a Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Men with metastases (cancer spreading to other parts of the body) at diagnosis were excluded from the study.

“We saw benefits at very attainable levels of activity,” said Dr. Stacey A. Kenfield, lead author of the study and epidemiology research associate at the Harvard School of Public Health.

“We aren’t sure of the exact molecular effects exercise has on prostate cancer, but exercise is known to influence a number of hormones hypothesized to stimulate prostate cancer, boost immune function, and reduce inflammation,” she added.

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Moderate Exercise Increases Mobility Levels in Seniors, Says LIFE Study

Most babies born now will likely live to be centenarians. These projections filling the news media are based on advances in medical treatments today.

The question that arises is that since the projections are based on medical treatments on the elderly population today, then what will the quality of life be for this next generation of centenarians?

For several years, the question of quality of life in senior years has been the focus of researchers at The Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (USDA HNRCA) at Tufts University, Medford, Mass.

The researchers are now embarking on a extended follow-up study to one completed a few years ago. The prior study examined the effects of initiating either an education or exercise program in seniors (ages 70 to 89) divided into to two groups to find out which group would experience the greatest increase in physical mobility.

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