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Laura Landro at the Wall Street Journal ran a HUGE article on the hidden benefits of exercise in the Personal Journal section. Some of the more interesting stats include:

* People who exercise regularly heal from colds 20-30% faster.


* People who walked briskly for 45 minutes, 5 days a week for 12-15 weeks reduced their number of sick days by 25-50%. 


* 36% of US adults didn't engage in ANY leisure activities in 2008. Can this be true?


*  Exercise can lower the risk of stroke by 27%, diabetes by 50%, high-blood pressure by 40%, risk of recurring breast cancer by 50%, colon cancer by 60%, Alzheimer's disease by 40%, etc., etc.


* Physical activity reduces erosion of telomeres, which essentially is an anti-aging effect at the cellular level.

The list goes on and on. There is also a great article about Dr. Paul Williams and his effort to dramatically increase the recommended exercise standards, and the push back received from the health community about saying such an increase will basically discourage existing couch potatoes to begin. Classic.

Definitely worth a read.

- SD