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A Prescription for Good Health
If you learned that a single prescription could prevent and treat dozens of diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity, would you ask your physician to prescribe it for you? I'll bet most of you would.
Physical inactivity is a fast-growing public health problem in this country, and contributes to a variety of chronic diseases and health complications, including obesity, coronary artery disease, cancer, depression and anxiety, arthritis, and osteoporosis. Increasing physical activity can prevent and cure many chronic conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and joint pain, while improving a patient's overall health. By engaging in 30 minutes of moderate exercise (such as a brisk walk) on most days each week, doctors are telling many of their patients that they will be able to get off medications for those conditions—thus avoiding the potentially harmful side effects those drugs can cause.
As employers shift more of the cost of health insurance to employees, more and more Americans are looking for ways to take better care of themselves. The Employee Benefit Research Institute just reported that 81 percent of Americans are looking to be healthier, compared with 71 percent just two years ago.
Exercise is not just an option; it's a necessary, active, and direct way for all of us to maintain good health, avoid illness, improve the quality of our lives, reduce health care costs, and extend life expectancy. It's a prescription for better health and lower health care expenditures—by individuals and by our nation as a whole. Many people would be astounded to learn how much difference a brisk 30-minute walk a few times a week makes in their overall health.
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