Friday, March 07, 2008

Exercise to Fight Fatigue


It may seem counter-intuitive but anyone who has tried it knows it's true. When we're feeling lethargic and sapped, the best thing we can do is exercise. Now scientists agree. A new study published in the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics shows that regular, low-intensity exercise may help boost energy levels in people suffering from fatigue.

One of the most common health symptoms and a sign of a many medical problems, fatigue is a common condition that causes concern. Yet about 25% of individuals seeking medical care for this condition experience general fatigue not associated with a serious medical condition.

University of Georgia researchers decided to study whether exercise can be used to treat fatigue. One group was prescribed 20 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise three times a week for six weeks. The second group engaged in low-intensity aerobic exercise for the same time period, while a third control group did not exercise at all. In the end, both of the exercise groups had a 20 percent increase in energy levels by the end of the study, compared to the control group. However, the researchers found that more intense exercise wasn't necessarily the best way to reduce fatigue. The low-intensity group reported a 65 percent drop in feelings of fatigue, compared to a 49 percent drop in the group doing more intense exercise. While scientists can't quite explain why this phenomenon works any of us who've tried it simply know it does.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

This works and I've tried to preach this to my stubborn wife. My explanation is, just like sympathetic pain, light exercise & a steaming shower afterwards helps spread lethargy throughout the body and so making it easy to disperse it out of the body. The bottom line is light exercise in the form of aerobics or taibos helps fight fatigue no-matter how much strainous day one would have had.

9:13 AM  

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