In order to treat or manage health issues your health professional will prescribe you medication. Antibiotics is a common medication prescribed to individuals to fight infection. Supplements and medication for bone health, low blood pressure or cholesterol are also commonly needed.

However the question remains whether light to moderate daily exercise could decrease the amount of medication needed to manage a health condition. Research and evidence suggest that incorporating 30 – 60 minutes of moderate exercise per day would have positive impacts on many chronic diagnosed illnesses. This means less severity and improving your health related quality of life by minimising illness symptoms.

Some steps into helping you get started and exercise right include:

• Get your body moving! Put on comfortable sports shoes, and ride, walk, jog or swim.
  
• Feel your endorphins release; grab your dog, family, friends and feel the fresh air while getting your heart pumping.
  
• Start off slow with 5-10 minutes continuous exercise, then increase as your fitness does.
  
• Blend exercise and socialising, join a fitness class of your interest perhaps, yoga or pilates, even join a local sports team like netball or basketball.
  
• Minimise your time spent sitting and find the time to stand up, stretch, talk on the phone or stand reading the newspaper. This minimises the risk between hours spent sitting down and chronic disease.

Cholesterol and blood pressure: 

Aerobic exercise helps improve our heart and lung function as well as overall cholesterol health. This means minimising the risk of cardiovascular disease that can result in a heart attack or stroke.

Osteoporosis and osteoarthritis;

Both can be managed and improved with strength based training. Weight training improves bone health and reduces age related loss in bone strength. It’s important to have strong and stable muscles around joints to ease unwanted pressure.

Chronic lower back pain: 

Core strengthening exercises such as pilates can improve posture which helps enable you to do more activities and exercise without the pain.  

Exercise improves mental health by reducing anxiety, depression, and negative mood and by improving self-esteem and cognitive function.

So start today and incorporate exercise into your healthy routine, and reduce the need for some medication. 

https://exerciseright.com.au/can-a-dose-of-exercise-reduce-the-dose-of-your-medications/