Physical Activity – The Most Powerful Medicine We Don't Prescribe Enough

What if one of the most effective medicines for preventing disease, improving mental health, and extending life isn't found in a pharmacy, but in movement? In this opening episode of The Medicine of Physical Activity series, I explore the science behind why exercise is truly medicine. Discover how regular physical activity transforms every major system of the body, why inactivity has become a global health crisis, and how small, consistent steps can lead to lifelong health. This episode will change the way you think about movement, and inspire you to make it part of your daily prescription.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Walking is man's best medicine. Those words were spoken more than 2000 years ago. Today, despite all advances in medical science, pharmaceuticals, and technology, that statement remains remarkably true. Welcome to Move and Thrive, the Endurance Edge Podcast. We are beginning a series of episodes that are dedicated to explore one of the most powerful, accessible and scientifically proven interventions for health and well-being. I'm talking about physical activity. My name is Dr. Siaba Mamumene, your sports physiotherapist and coach. Over the next 13 weeks, we will journey through the science, practice, and life-changing impact of movement. Whether you are a healthcare professional, you are a student, you are an athlete, an educator, or a patient or simply someone interested in living a healthier life, this series is for you. Today we begin with a fundamental question. Can physical activity truly be considered medicine? The answer may change the way you think about health forever. Before we begin, I want to share a health fact for this week. Physical inactivity is one of the leading modifiable risk factors for chronic disease and premature death worldwide. Millions of deaths each year are linked to insufficient physical activity. Yet, unlike many health risks, physical inactivity is something that we can change. The medicine already exists. The challenge is that many of us are not taking it. And perhaps more importantly, healthcare systems are not even prescribing it often enough. The title of our episode today is The Medicine of Physical Activity. And this title was chosen very deliberately. When most people hear the word medicine, they think about tablets, injections, surgeries, or hospital treatments. We hardly think about walking. We hardly think about cycling, running, swimming, dancing, gardening, climbing stairs. Yet scientific evidence accumulated over decades show that regular physical activity can prevent disease, can treat disease, can improve physical function, can enhance mental health and extend life. In many cases, exercise is as powerful as some medications for preventing chronic diseases. Throughout the series that we are starting, we will explore three major themes. First, we will understand why movement is essential for life. Second, we will discover how exercise helps prevent and manage chronic diseases. Thirdly, we will learn how movement improves function, performance, and quality of life across the lifespan. This episode today lays the foundation for everything that will follow. Because before we talk about exercise prescriptions, disease prevention, rehabilitation or healthy living or healthy aging, we must first understand why movement matters. Let's begin by asking a simple question. What makes something a medicine? Most people will answer that medicine is something that helps prevent illness or restore health. If that is true, then physical activity clearly qualifies. Think about what happens when we move regularly. Science tells us that when we move regularly, our hearts become stronger, lungs become more efficient, blood pressure improves, our blood sugar becomes easier to regulate, our muscles become stronger, our bones become denser and strong. Our mood improves, sleep improves, our brains function more efficiently. Very few medications can claim benefits across so many systems simultaneously. Exercise is unique because it affects almost every organ, every system in our bodies. In fact, some researchers describe physical activity as a polypill, one intervention with multiple health benefits. Imagine a medicine that could reduce your risk of heart diseases, stroke, diabetes, depression, anxiety, certain cancers, you know, fractures and premature death. Such a medicine will be considered revolutionary. Yet physical activity already does exactly that. And unlike many medical treatments, it is accessible, low cost, and carries relatively few side effects when performed appropriately. This is why healthcare professionals around the world increasingly embrace the concept that exercise is medicine, not metaphorically, not symbolically, but scientifically. If movement is medicine, then what happens when we don't move? The answer is concerning. Human beings are created to move. For thousands of years, survival required physical activity. People walked long distances, they hunted, they gathered food, they farmed, they carried water, they built shelters. Movement was woven into daily life. Today, life looks very different. Many of us just wake up and sit. We sit in cars, we sit at desks, we sit in meetings, we sit in front of televisions, we sit while scrolling through our phones. Modern life has engineered movement out of our daily routines. Technology has delivered tremendous convenience. But convenience often comes with unintended consequences. Less movement, more sitting, more inactivity. This shift has created one of the greatest public health challenges of our time. Physical inactivities is now recognized as a major contributor to chronic diseases globally. Yet what makes this burden particularly tragic is that much of it is preventable. The science is so clear on this matter. Human bodies are designed to move. When movement decreases, health declines. When movement increases, health improves. It is really that simple. Over the past few decades, the world has witnessed a dramatic rise in lifestyle related diseases. Conditions such as heart disease, hypertension and obesity, type two diabetes, depression, anxiety, chronic musculoskeletal pain. All of these have become increasingly common. Why? There is no single explanation, but several important factors contribute poor nutrition, physical inactivity, excessive sedentary behavior, chronic stress, insufficient sleep. These are some of the factors that contribute to this global problem, and one of them is physical inactivity. Many of today's major health problems are not caused by infectious organisms. Instead, they are strongly influenced by how we live. Our daily habits matter. Our routines matter, our choices matter. The good news is that lifestyle diseases respond to lifestyle interventions. And among all lifestyle interventions, physical activity stands out as one of the most effective interventions. This is why the next phase of our series will focus on how exercise can actually prevent and manage heart diseases, diabetes, obesity, mental health conditions, and many other lifestyle-related conditions. Over the next few weeks, we will continue building our understanding of physical activity as medicine. The next episodes we will examine physical inactivity and sedentary behavior. We'll explore why prolonged sitting is harmful. We'll also look at the impact of inactivity on quality of life. That will be our next episode. Following episode will be answering questions on how much exercise do we actually need. We'll discuss international recommendations for children, for adults, older adults and pregnant women. In other episodes we will introduce exercise prescription because we need to know how exactly we should be exercising. We'll introduce principles of exercise. One of them is fit principle, which talks of frequency, intensity, time and type of exercise. The whole of August to the beginning of September, we will explore exercise as medicine for heart diseases, for diabetes, for obesity, mental health condition, and many lifestyle conditions. We will get into the science of it and provide convincing evidence. Part of September to the end of it, we will focus on movement across the lifespan, including bone health, injury prevention, rehabilitation, healthy aging, building lifelong habits of physical activity. By the end of this journey, we will not only understand the science of physical activity, you will understand how to apply it in your own life. Let me just deal with one myth and one fact. There are people who say exercise is only important if you want to lose weight. That's a myth. The fact is exercise improves cardiovascular health, mental well-being, bone health, mobility, sleep quality, cognitive function, and overall longevity. Even when body weight does not change. Yes, exercise can help you control your weight, but there are more benefits to it. Even when body weight does not change. Physical activity is about much more than appearance. It is about health, it is about function, it is about living well. I want to address a listener's question that I've received. Today's question is Do I need a gym membership to benefit from physical activity? Absolutely not. Physical activity includes walking, cycling, gardening, and household chores, recreational sport, dancing, active commuting, and countless other forms of movement. So movement is not only limited to you going to the gym. The most effective exercise program is not necessarily the most expensive one. It is the one you can do consistently. I want you to remember movement does not have to be perfect. It simply has to happen. Here is the weekly movement challenge. For the next several days, try and track how many hours you spent sitting. Monitor your daily movements. Notice opportunities to move more. Take short movement breaks throughout the day. Don't try to change everything immediately. Just observe. That's the challenge for this week. Awareness is the first step towards behavior change. And before prescribing any medicine, we first assess the patient. That's what we do as clinicians. So the challenge for this week, we're doing movement audit. Try and do that. We will help you as we go along with behavior change. We will help you to get into a habit that will benefit your health. As we conclude today's episode, I would like to leave you with one final thought. The human body was designed for movement. Movement is not an optional extra. It is not a luxury. It is not something reserved for athletes. Movement is a biological necessity. When we move regularly, we invest in our future health. When we stop moving, we begin to lose something of the very capacities that allow us to live independently, function effectively, and enjoy life. Over the next 13 weeks, we will explore the remarkable science behind this idea. But for now, remember this. The most powerful medicine may not be found in a bottle. It may be found in your next walk. Thank you so much for joining me for episode of the medicine of physical activity. Until next time, keep moving, keep learning, and remember exercise is medicine, transforming lives through movement.