Regular physical exercise is the recipe for a healthy living, and prevention of communicable diseases, a lecturer and researcher, Dr. Adewale Adebero has said.
In his publication in the Journal of Research in Contemporary Issues in Human Kinetics and Health Education, published by the University of Lagos, Adebero, a specialist in exercise physiology, and a member of the British Association of Exercise Scientists noted that “Over the years, Nigeria has been faced with tremendous public health challenges ranging from viral infections like Covid-19, HIV/AIDS, Ebola, bird flu and meningitis, to challenges resulting from physical inactivity like diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).
“These have led to several numbers of deaths, incapacitations, permanent disabilities and have also placed a high economic burden on both households and the country at large.
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“Physical activities and exercise are of immense benefits to improve the quality of life, reduce or even prevent CVDs and promote longevity”.
The study also claimed that a low level of physical activity exposes anyone to a greater risk of dying than smoking, obesity, hypertension, or high cholesterol, and for older adults, regular physical activity can decrease the risk of death by 40%.
Other benefits of exercise highlighted by the study are the ability to reduce cancer by fifty percent, reduction in the incidence of heart disease and high blood pressure by approximately forty percent, lower the risk of stroke and the risk of developing type II diabetes by 58%, twice as effective in treating type II diabetes than the standard insulin prescription, ability to effectively decrease depression, and help to increase higher academic scores for adolescents.