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Exercise and Health (¢ñ)
The heart is the most important organ of our body. How can we train the heart to last longer and to work better? Listen to what Dr. Mirkin has to say about this topic.
Q. Dr. Mirkin, doctors seem to put a lot of emphasis on exercise. Is exercise really important to the health of an average person?
A. Yes, it is. Exercise is important not only for the health of your body , but for your mind.
Q. How does exercise help one¡¯s mind?
A. A person¡¯s mood is helped significantly by exercise. There are many physicians who prescribe exercise for
those people who don¡¯t fell very good about themselves. Exercise is effective as a tranquilizer. Tests have shown
that a 15-minute walk can have a more tranquilizing effect than the most-used tranquilizers on the market today .
It has been demonstrated that people who exercise suffer less from anxiety and are able to work harder.
Lack of physical fitness is often associated with decreased performance at work or in school. One study showed
the 83 percent of the freshmen who flunked out of the University of Syracuse were in bad physical shape. Conversely,
students at Nathaniel Hawthorne Junior High School in Yonkers , N.Y., who were failing were put into a
physical fitness program, and their grades picked up. So did their behavior. Exercise also helps you sleep at night.
Q. What are the chief physical benefits of exercise?
A. Physically, the most important value of exercise is the way it trains your heart. Studies have shown that people who continue to exercise late into adult life live longer and are less likely to die from heart attacks.
This is contrary to what people were taught years ago. But it is not how much exercise you get when young
that leads to health in adulthood: it¡¯s how much exercise you get when you¡¯re older that¡¯s important. A study
showed that Harvard football players died younger, on the average, than their nonathletic conunterparts
Q. For a person who¡¯s not an athlete ¡ª and never has been ¡ª what kind of exercise should one do in adult life?
A. The best kind of exercise is one that trains your heart. To do that , you must get your pulse up to 120 beats per minute for at least 30 minutes and at least three times a week . Any sport that doesn¡¯t do that doesn¡¯t really train your heart as it should be trained.
Q. What do you mean by training the heart?
A. The heart is like any other muscle ¡ª the more you exercise it, the larger and stronger it becomes. A large, strong heart doesn¡¯t have to beat as often to do its work, so it will take longer to wear out.
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