Welcome to my first blog post! As I write this blog I plan on tackling many diverse topics related to activity, exercise, diet and wellness. I hope you come along for the journey by subscribing to receive these blog posts in your email and commenting below, through our social media or on the contact us now page.
In this first post, I plan on discussing the simple differentiation between activity and exercise — where we will break down practical tips to help you optimize your activity, improve health and thrive. We will attempt to answer the age old question of which one is more important. So whether you are an elite athlete, an average joe, or someone just starting your fitness journey, this post is for you.
As we dive into this topic, first we need to clarify these two key terms: activity and exercise. Activity is any movement in your daily life—like walking, taking the stairs, gardening, or playing with your kids. It’s the foundation of a healthy life. The opposite of being active is being sedentary and being sedentary is commonly referred to as a silent killer. Staying active has many benefits which we will dive into in the future. It can provide so many benefits without it feeling like work. Exercise, on the other hand, is a planned, structured type of physical activity with a specific goal (i.e. health, performance, function, etc), like jogging or lifting weights. All exercise is a form of activity but not all activity is exercise, like squares and rectangles. Confused yet?
Both are incredibly important. Activity maintains body function, boosts mood, improves focus, reduces cognitive decline, helps reduce risk of cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, certain cancers and musculoskeletal health. Meaningful changes in these areas of health can be achieved with even modest increases to activity. Exercise can take the benefits of activity and magnify them, but also brings in the possibility of other benefits like building strength and endurance, improved balances, flexibility and with training, reduce the risk of injury. Skip activity, and that means you are sedentary which many in our society struggle with for a variety of reasons, but this leads to all sorts of poor health outcomes. Ignore exercise, and you miss the greatest possible health gains. Together, they create a powerful combination for longevity.
Imagine two individuals that live at opposite extremes. Active Allie is go go go all day. She never stops to sit down from the time she wakes up till the time she goes to bed. That being said, all of her tasks throughout the day keep her from exercising and getting the greatest of activity benefits that can only be found through exercise. That’s not ideal. Now look at Exercise Erin. He wakes up, goes for an hour run first thing in the morning. After cleaning up he commutes to work, sits at a desk all day, clocks out, comes home and watches TV till he goes to bed. Yes, he checked the exercise box and got some great benefits, but 23 hours a day of sedentary lifestyle still is such a negative to their overall health.
Activity
What does the data say. Many people will use different numbers for what constitutes an active lifestyle. Some use hours of sitting or step count. I think both have merit, but for the sake of this discussion we will use step count as we have plenty of literature on this. Specifically an article in the Lancet entitled, “Daily Steps and Health Outcomes in Adults: A systematic Review and Dose-response Meta-Analysis” details many of these1. Data suggests the greatest benefits to activity come from walking over 7,000 steps a day. While more steps would almost certainly better, there does seem to be diminishing returns going beyond 7,000 steps. This study looked at the difference between individuals getting 2,000 and 7,000 steps and the changes are dramatic. For our cardiovascular system, increasing step counts from 2,000 to 7,000 daily decreased the incidence of cardiovascular disease by 25% and cardiovascular disease mortality by 47%. It does this, in part, by lowering BP and improves lipid profiles. Metabolically these changes enhance insulin sensitivity and improve glucose management reducing the development of diabetes by 14%, as well as other metabolic diseases like obesity. Bladder, breast, colon, endometrium, esophagus, kidney, lung and stomach cancers are all reduced by taking those 7,000 steps. All cancers were reduced by 6% and cancer mortality was reduced by 37% in these individuals. There was a 38% reduction in dementia risk and 22% lower risk of depressive symptoms in these individuals. Improvements in bone health, physical functioning and a reduction in fall risk (28%) were all appreciated. Respiratory and GI systems also show improved health from an active lifestyle.
The beauty of activity is it’s free, accessible and these benefits grow over time. No gym or expensive equipment is required. If you haven’t started yet you are in the right place. If we aren’t currently active at all it’s time to get started. For the majority of individuals gradually increasing your step count does not require physician clearance, but if you have specific health concerns, limitations to your mobility, risk of falls or other concerns always check with your primary care physician first.
Exercise
Unlike activity, exercise is more strenuous and can cause greater strain on the body. If you have health concerns not limited to but including heart disease, joint problems, or otherwise, it is always prudent to begin with a conversation with your primary care physician first. They might recommend tests like an EKG or stress test before more vigorous exercise.
In the future we will dive into the specific benefits of each type of exercise (similar to what we did with activity), but suffice it to say with more vigorous exercise there is the potential for higher reward. The four main categories are cardiovascular, strength, balance and flexibility.
Cardiovascular, or endurance, exercise would include running, cycling, swimming, walking and otherwise. The hallmark of cardio is the rhythmic repetitive activities that lead to increased heart and respiratory rates. While commonly these are sustained over extended periods of time, even short bursts of cardio can be beneficial for even just a few minutes. Benefits of cardiovascular fitness include quite obviously better cardiovascular, respiratory, GI, muscle, neurologic, cognitive, skin, metabolic, immune and reproductive health. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), recommends 150 minutes of moderate (i.e. brisk walk) or 75 minutes of vigorous (i.e. running) per week. More cardiovascular activity than this weekly can lead to greater benefits, but this is a great place to start.
Strength, or resistance, training would include body weight resistance training, weight lifting, resistance bands, plyometrics and otherwise. Unlike cardio, this is a form of exercise that may have repetition to it, but the resistance is high enough for that individual where they are not able to continue indefinitely or for long periods without rest. That increased resistance is a hallmark of training strength. While strength training can give benefits to the systems discussed under cardiovascular category, but where strength training really shines is muscle, bone, cardiovascular and metabolic health. Strength training is generally very under appreciated. One of the best predictors of health span (the amount of healthy life someone lives) is muscle strength and muscle mass. As such, it is incredibly important to train for strength, muscle and bone health through strength training. The ACSM recommends 2 or more days per week and trying to target every major muscle group at least once per week. I believe 3 days is ideal. In our separate future blog on strength training we will dive into more specifics like sets and reps so stay tuned.
When it comes to exercise we regularly think of stretching before or after, but rarely do we consider Flexibility Training as a distinct category of exercise. Flexibility training would include static stretching, dynamic stretching, PNF (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation), yoga and otherwise. Improved flexibility improves function, reduces the rate of injury, improves spine health and posture and can even help in stress relief. While more regular stretching is likely more beneficial, I recommend at least 2-3 days/week of dedicated flexibility training. In a future blog on flexibility training we will explore what this may look like practically.
Balance, or neuromuscular, exercise would include exercises like static holds, slow dynamic movements, unstable surface challenges, Yoga and Tai Chi. Balance is a very complex activity that we often take for granted. There is a complex interplay of input and output from the nervous (peripheral nerves, inner ear, cerebellum, brain and spinal cord) and musculoskeletal system just works, until it doesn’t. Rarely discussed, neuromuscular training is very important for activities of daily living. Without balance we become sedentary which has dramatic impacts on health. This commonly becomes a problem later in life, but if we do not train our balance systems early, our balance declines over time. If we don’t use it we lose it. Once balance is gone it is very hard to get back. Good neuromuscular health allows us to participate in other forms of activity and exercise, reduces the risk of falls and other injuries and for athletes improves performance. Balance training should be done a minimum at least 2 days per week.
Conclusion
All of this can be overwhelming. How do we we progress from here? Health is a journey. We get great benefits from activity and exercise but those really come from a daily commitment to pursuing this lifestyle over a long period of time. A single bout of exercise does very little, but a lifetime of activity is a game changer. This is a marathon not a sprint. Set yourself up for success by building habits today that are sustainable with achievable short term goals and life changing long term goals for longevity and quality of life. Start where you are and each week take a step in towards a healthier you and you will be there before you know it!
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40713949
#Activity #Exercise #Health #Wellbeing