Blog

Sep 19

I can't even remember the first time I heard the phrase. As a regular in physical therapy and orthopedic clinics - a quip often used by clinicians to describe the risk of crossing the line into "sedentary" - it is so commonplace that I just assumed the credit belonged to some legendary doctor somewhere. As I dove further in, I found that "if you rest, you rust" was actually attributed to a famous actress who, in addition to a massively productive career, also played an important role in the movement for healthy movement. I learned that Helen Hayes was not only the first female actress to win the "grand slam of American show business" (the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) as part of an 82-year career which started in childhood, she also became a major philanthropic force in the domain of rehabilitation. The hospital in West Haverstraw, NY, where she focused her energies, eventually became her namesake. Research this year has backed her up - we humans are built to MOVE and should do so often if we want to stay vibrant. Here are a few that I thought were particularly cool:

Pain & Injury

First, in February, a group compared the impact of traditional exercise and "exergaming", that is, video games which incorporate whole body movements, on chronic low back pain. Both approaches made a positive impact, and neither was definitively superior to the other, suggesting just about any movement can work to help those suffering longer-term back pain (typically defined as >90 days) feel better. Whether you prefer movement for its own sake or movement that feels more like fun and games, it all counts. Then, in the same journal (a study we mentioned a few months back), another team showed that when it came to pain severity, this time in older adults across 28 different countries, movement was the most important lifestyle factor for predicting severe pain. It showed a much stronger association than even well-known drivers like smoking, poor sleep, and poor diet. Those who reported low and very low rates of physical activity had more than 4X the odds of developing severe pain than those who were highly active. A few months later, in June, as reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the work of a team in Norway helped to quantify how much movement, in this case, total walking minutes, is required to prevent low back pain from becoming chronic in the first place. The answer was 100 total minutes per day with higher intensities, such as a faster pace, only slightly better than slow-paced walking. While some benefits began around 80 minutes, the greatest benefit appeared at 100 or more, where an additional 23% risk reduction was achieved. 

Illness & Disease

The story got even better last month when, in a huge new review of 57 studies that aimed to determine the "dosage" (in steps) of movement required to get meaningful risk reduction across a variety of diseases, the number 7,000 kept coming up. When researchers pooled the data and reanalyzed, they found that compared to a low-activity group (2,000 steps or less per day), individuals who got at least 7,000 steps daily had a significantly lower risk of getting (and/or dying from) a host of the most common diseases during the study period. In addition to a 47% decreased risk of dying from any cause (which ranged from 37% to 47% for cancer and cardiovascular disease respectively), those who averaged 7,000 steps per day also had a 38% lower risk of developing dementia, a 28% lower risk of falls, a 25% lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease, a 22% lower risk of experiencing depressive symptoms, a 14% lower risk of being diagnosed with diabetes type 2 and a 6% lower risk of being diagnosed with cancer. A powerful benefit from 1 simple habit.

Very few people work for 82 years or live to be 93, but if we can find a way to incorporate her first quote into our lives and minimize the rust with movement, we might be able to prove that she was also right when she said, "age is not important...unless you're a cheese." :)

Have a great weekend,
Mike E.