CANCER & OTHER DIS-EASE DEVELOPS IN A STAGNANT BODY

Before I start on this topic, allow me to explain why I spell the word "disease" this way: "dis-ease." I do so in order to give the word back its original meaning: "a lack of ease." The spelling "disease," and the pronunciation "duh-zeze," leaves people clueless about the fact that in most cases, the reason they are sick is due to the "dis-easeful' functioning of one or more parts of their body, and that in the majority of cases, the most important thing they need to do, in order to heal, is to restore easeful functioning to the parts of them that are dis-eased.

Now, everyone knows it's a good thing to exercise, and most people, if asked why it's good to exercise, would give reasons such as, "to lose weight or maintain a healthful weight," "to exercise and strengthen the heart," or "to become stronger or to maintain your strength." Those people with arthritis would say exercise is important for relieving some of their pain, and to slow the progression of the arthritis. Some people might even say, "to prevent dis-ease," and they would be right, along with the people who gave the other answers. But I wonder how much any of those people would know about just why exercise helps prevent dis-ease, including cancer.

The reason is that the lymphatic system, (the part of our bodies composed of white cells, one of whose functions is to destroy and devour germs, viruses and cancer cells), is a network of vessels, much like blood vessels, with one highly significant difference between them: The HEART pumps the blood, while MUSCULAR ACTIVITY, not the heart, pumps the lymph.

Each time you breath out, or expire, your diaphragm, the primary muscle of breathing, pushes upward, an action that pumps lymphatic fluid through your body and keeps it circulating constantly.

EXERCISE causes your expiration to become more active. New sets of muscles are used: Muscles of the abdominal wall contract, pushing the diaphragm upward more vigorously, while the contraction of the internal intercostal muscles, in opposition to the external intercostal muscles, pulls the ribcage downwards. These combined actions accelerate the expulsion of air, which increases the speed and efficiency of the circulation of your lymph. Furthermore, exercise increases the number of killer cells, or neutrophils,in your lymph, killer cells being the white cells that destroy bacteria, viruses and cancer cells.

In the 3rd edition of his Textbook of Medical Physiology, Dr. Arthur Guyton states that 1 minute of vigorous physical exercise increases the number of killer cells in the lymphatic system by 6 to 7 times normal, and maintains them at that level for about an hour.

So, getting your daily exercise is even more important than you might have realized.

Research appears to indicate that in the development of colon cancer and some other cancers, the combination of being overweight as well as being inactive, greatly increases one's chance of cancer, and the research also appears to show that inactivity alone may be MORE significant, with regard to cancer, than overweight alone.

By the way, gardening, or cleaning house or other activities that cause one to be active, do not count as exercise. Certainly, gardening and house-cleaning are far better for you than is bed rest. But I myself have tried substituting gardening for regular, specific exercise, and it didn't take long before I could feel that my body needed more than gardening for me to feel energetic and generally healthful.

The specific exercise I particularly prefer and enjoy is rebounding, which is bouncing, jogging and occasionally sprinting in place, on a mini-trampoline. The advantages to rebounding are many, just a few of which are that it is very low-impact, and it can be done in any kind of weather and at any time of day.

For lots more information about rebounding, please scroll up this page till you come to the post titled, "Rebounding: The Very BEST Exercise For The Immune System!"