HEALING MOVES

Strong arguments for making vigorous exercise part of a healthy lifestyle; coupled with careful, well-illustrated exercise regimens designed to prevent or relieve specific medical conditions. Washington Post health writer Carol Krucoff and cardiologist Mitchell Krucoff (Duke University Medical Center) remind us once again that exercise relieves stress, boosts mood, enhances self-esteem, helps maintain a healthy weight, improves sleep, prompts a desire for healthy food, enhances self-efficacy, and promotes “hardiness” (making us “less vulnerable to the ravages of daily problems”). They first discuss in detail exercises and programs for general health and fitness. Then, arranged by body system, they set out the facts of various medical disorders, explain how exercise can help, and provide an exercise prescription. Covered herein are metabolic disorders (e.g., diabetes), mental health conditions, orthopedic disorders, cardiovascular disorders, immunological conditions (from colds to AIDS and cancer), men’s health, women’s health, and respiratory disorders. For instance, we learn that since exercise speeds the passage of food through the intestinal tract, it lessens the length of contact between carcinogens in food and the colon wall—which “may explain why physically active men have half the risk of colon cancer as their sedentary peers.”

Meticulous, well-supported information with practical application. A valuable reference.