The Paleo Diet - Loren Cordain [91]
Exercise and Blood Lipids
Medical evidence suggests that exercise training alone has little or no effect on the LDL blood cholesterol level. However, it can improve the total/HDL cholesterol ratio and reduce your risk of heart disease by significantly increasing the good HDL blood cholesterol level. Also, exercise has been shown to lower the triglyceride level, which may also be an independent risk factor for atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease.
The best way to improve your levels of total and HDL cholesterol is through a combination of exercise and diet. Do your heart a favor when you adopt the Paleo Diet and start to exercise as well.
Exercise Prevents Heart Disease and High Blood Pressure
Exercise can also decrease your risk of dying from heart disease by triggering a variety of other healthful changes in your heart and circulatory system. Regular physical exertion has been shown to widen and increase the elasticity of the coronary arteries that carry blood to the heart. This widening is good: Even if there are plaques, or chunky deposits, in the coronary arteries of people who regularly exercise, their chances of having a heart attack are reduced because these arteries are wider—which makes it less likely that any blockage will completely cut off blood flow to the heart. With regular exercise, the heart gets bigger and stronger and may even develop new blood vessels to supply more blood and oxygen.
Also, exciting new evidence suggests that regular physical exertion may reduce the risk of a blood clot forming in a coronary artery—a key event leading to a heart attack. The net result of all these beneficial changes from physical activity is a significant reduction in your risk of dying from all forms of heart and blood vessel diseases. This has been demonstrated in a medical study of more than 40,000 women from Iowa.
The most pervasive of all chronic Western diseases is hypertension, or high blood pressure. It affects at least 50 million Americans, and by age sixty-five almost 60 percent of all Americans have blood pressure that is too high. Blood pressure is measured when the heart contracts (this is called “systolic pressure”) and when it relaxes (“diastolic pressure”). You are considered to have hypertension if your systolic blood pressure readings are 140 or greater and if your diastolic readings are 90 or greater. Many studies have demonstrated that regular exercise alone—without other lifestyle changes—is effective in lowering blood pressure. Because hypertension can accelerate the risk of stroke, exercise programs that lower blood pressure may also reduce the risk of stroke. Exercise, along with the foods you will be eating on the Paleo Diet, will put you on the right track for lowering your blood pressure and reducing your risk of developing the diseases of the heart and the blood vessels.
Exercise, Type 2 Diabetes, and Other Health Benefits of Exercise
Type 2 diabetes affects an estimated 17 million Americans and normally arises from insulin resistance—the same dangerous condition that promotes obesity, hypertension, heart disease, and blood lipid abnormalities. Exercise can be of great help: a single round of exercise improves insulin sensitivity within three hours and keeps working all day long—even twenty-four hours after your exertion.
Exercise is one of nature’s best cures for whatever ails you. Regular physical exertion can reduce stress and optimize your mental well-being, help you sleep better, improve your digestion and lung function, reduce bone mineral loss, and slow the physical changes associated with aging. It may decrease your risk of developing certain types of cancer. So go for it! Embrace the active lifestyle that is part of your ancestral heritage. Activity and movement are built into your genes. Your body absolutely requires it.
Modern Exercises for Your Paleolithic Body