As a football player, I am continuously told to exercise and show the benefits of my workouts. I have also seen people go from having a high chance of dying young to looking ahead to a long life. This drastic change comes from more than continuing the same life cycle. The continuation of this cycle without change and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. People have proven the studies and shown that working out improves people's lives. Working out for even a minuscule 30 minutes daily can improve your health. Studies have produced more evidence that cardiovascular exercise and lifting weights to grow muscle can have health benefits as people age, including a reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancers.

Studies have produced more evidence that cardiovascular exercise decreases mortality rates and prevents cardiovascular diseases. The journal “Cardiovascular Effects and Benefits of Exercise” stated, "Nonetheless, mortality risk reduction appears with even small bouts of daily exercise and peak at 50–60 min of vigorous exercise each day.” The quote shows how a person could decrease their mortality rate just by doing intense physical exercise for small amounts of the day. This exercise could be running, playing a game you enjoy, or even being as simple as going for a walk in your home. It is simple and applicable and decreases your mortality rate. Another journal about the importance of exercise in the elderly states, "Exercise training in older people has been associated with health benefits such as decreased cardiovascular mortality.” This exercise prevents a person from getting heart disease or other associated diseases. 

Studies have produced more evidence that growing muscle can increase your likelihood of survival and prevent cancer. In a journal talking about the importance of muscle mass in mortality rates of cancer survivors, the researchers concluded, “Specifically, we observed that muscle mass (quantity) only correlated with patients’ survival, while muscle radiodensity (quality) demonstrated significant relationships with patients’ symptom burden, healthcare utilization, and survival. These findings underscore the need to assess and address muscle health among cancer patients while highlighting the added importance of muscle radiodensity as a predictor of both patient-reported and clinical outcomes.” Explained simply, this means that high muscle quality and quantity makes people more likely to survive cancers such as Gastrointestinal, Lung, Genitourinary, Skin, Breast, Gynecologic, Sarcoma, Head and neck, and Leukemia. The facts mean that activities before and during cancer that allow muscle growth create a lower mortality rate for the patients. These activities would take 30-45 minutes and would save you years of your life to live and enjoy.  These facts are shown in a journal titled “Physical Exercise Restrains Cancer Progression through Muscle-Derived Factors.” The researchers concluded, "In the intercellular transport and delivery of muscle-secreted biomolecules, exosomes play an important role, delivering their content (miRNAs and myokines) into the target cells. The muscle secretome can modulate cancer evolution directly by affecting cancer cells and indirectly by stimulating the immune response and compensating cancer-related sarcopenia, which affects patients’ quality of life.” This quote explains how physical activity allows the body to “modulate cancer evolution.” If cancer is modulated, then it isn't able to spread as well and can be eradicated by things like chemotherapy. Chemo in itself can be helped by physical exercise. Through physical exercise, a person could live a happier and healthier life with or without cancer. So why is it such a horrible thing to work out?

Working out has become a stigma for most people in the modern age. With the dawn of social media, people started to see fitness influencers pop out and show how much they workout to achieve these “dream physiques.” People then get discouraged because they don't think they have the time to work like these people, seeing these insane routines as a way to gain muscle. In the past two paragraphs, I have outlined how important it is for people to exercise actively. That is not only because it will improve your life span but also because it will improve your quality of life. The study talking about the importance of muscle mass in mortality rates of cancer survivors states “the need to assess and address muscle health among cancer patients.” According to the National Health Service of the UK, “1 in 2 people will develop some form of cancer during their lifetime”. This cancer can ruin your life and take you too early. People have a stigma around cancer and how it ruins families and lives. As more people suffer and speak up, less and less is done. The stigma creates this bubble of sadness, and they do this even though there is a solution that people could have implemented to help, as a study named “Physical Exercise Restrains Cancer Progression through Muscle-Derived Factors”  stated, “modulate cancer evolution.” This means slowing it, if not stopping cancer in its tracks. People seem to think it takes the amount of effort a bodybuilder or their favorite influencer uses to build muscle. According to a study, “mortality risk reduction appears with even small bouts of daily exercise and peak at 50–60 min of vigorous exercise each day.” Evidence shows that even small bouts of training decreased the mortality rate. This reduced rate can stack up over time. Even one hour out of the 24 in your day is shown to be the peak for reduced mortality rates.  If you are smart about your training, you can remain injury-free and continue to improve yourself while decreasing your mortality risk.

People continue to want to live longer and longer, but they are scared away from one of the most helpful ways to improve their lives: exercise. Now, that may sound like a lot; however, it's different from the kind of exercise you are considering; this could include walking and running outside or even having fun playing a sport. Even as much as experts remind us, people continue to ignore the importance of exercise because of the stereotypical way to exercise. You do not need to become a bodybuilder or powerlifter to lift weights. Studies have also shown more evidence that cardiovascular exercise and lifting weights to grow muscle can have health benefits as people age. The real problem is the stigma behind working out. Waiting to work out until you have a disease is too late. Start working out now, and you'll feel the benefits in your everyday life.

Works Cited

Camargo Pereira, Cristina, et al. "Low muscle mass and mortality risk later in life: A 10-year follow-up study." PLoS ONE, vol. 17, no. 7, 28 July 2022, p. e0271579. Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A711807548/OVIC?u=lom_troyhs&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=a9a46e01. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.

Langhammer, Birgitta et al. "The Importance of Physical Activity Exercise among Older People." BioMed research international vol. 2018 7856823. 5 Dec. 2018, doi:10.1155/2018/7856823

NHS. "Overview -Cancer." NHS, edited by NHS, 13 Oct. 2022, www.nhs.uk/conditions/cancer/#:~:text=Cancer%20sometimes%20begins%20in%20one,of%20cancer%20during%20their%20lifetime.

Nystoriak, Matthew A, and Aruni Bhatnagar. "Cardiovascular Effects and Benefits of Exercise." Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine vol. 5 135. 28 Sep. 2018, doi:10.3389/fcvm.2018.00135

Papadopetraki, Argyro et al. "Physical Exercise Restrains Cancer Progression through Muscle-Derived Factors." Cancers vol. 14,8 1892. 8 Apr. 2022, doi:10.3390/cancers14081892