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Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP180109A
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00:01 The following program presents principles
00:02 designed to promote good health 00:04 and is not intended to take the place 00:05 of personalized professional care. 00:07 The opinions and ideas expressed 00:09 are those of the speaker. 00:10 Viewers are encouraged to draw their own conclusions 00:13 about the information presented. 00:15 Remember, when you were a kid 00:16 and never had to think about exercise 00:18 because you're a kid 00:19 and you just played all day long, 00:21 those were the days. 00:22 But as we get older, 00:24 the responsibilities of life pile on 00:25 and we often take for granted the gift of movement. 00:29 We were designed to move 00:30 and the benefits we can experience 00:32 from regular exercise are tremendous. 00:34 Stay with us as Dr. Marcum shares more 00:36 right here on the Ultimate Prescription 00:38 in just a moment. 00:59 Thanks for joining us here today 01:01 on the Ultimate Prescription, 01:02 a program dedicated to helping us better understand 01:05 God's design for our life 01:07 and experience better health by following His plan. 01:10 I'm your host Nick Evenson, 01:11 and I'm joined by Dr. James Marcum, 01:13 and on today, we're gonna talk about the benefits of movement 01:17 and at times why we should maybe not move. 01:19 Is that right, Dr. Marcum? 01:21 Let's talk about that, 01:22 but I like the word that you said "Play" 01:24 that sounds like a fun thing to do. 01:26 Yeah, you know, when I was a kid 01:28 we played all day long every day. 01:29 Well, why don't we do that as an adult? 01:32 Why doesn't everyone play more? 01:34 I mean, I think playing is a great thing to do 01:36 'cause... 01:37 Can you think of any type of play 01:38 where you don't move? 01:42 Maybe if you're drawing that's kind of playing. 01:45 But you're still sort of moving... 01:46 A little bit, yeah. 01:47 Even play dominos you are moving. 01:49 I'll tell you the kind that's not much movement. 01:52 On your controller and you're just moving your thumb. 01:54 Yeah, you're right. That's not much. 01:55 That doesn't count. 01:57 So movement is a key for us to feel better, 02:01 you know, it's very, very important. 02:03 We have lots of questions 02:05 that have come into the website, 02:07 the HeartWiseMinistries.org website. 02:09 And most of the ones I receive 02:11 are for ways to incorporate moving 02:14 into a busy lifestyle like you said. 02:16 Well, I don't feel like it, how can I get over the hump. 02:19 What can I do? 02:21 You know, how can I make this fun? 02:23 So we should make movement playful. 02:25 Yeah, absolutely. 02:26 And it might just be that, that is a state of mind, 02:29 you know, when I move every body part, 02:31 man, I'm playing, you know. 02:33 When I'm moving every body part, 02:35 I can connect with God. 02:36 You know, let's find something that's positive about movement 02:40 and bring our brains into that and make it fun. 02:42 So we want to move and we do it often. 02:45 You know, workplaces now 02:47 are very big about these stand up desks, 02:50 you know, where you stand up and move 02:52 and you sit up straight 'cause, 02:53 you know, sometimes we have this bad posture, 02:55 I have bad posture sometimes. 02:57 And bad posture itself, 02:59 and if we don't have that movement 03:01 we can actually wear out our back. 03:03 In a lot of chronic back problems people get 03:06 is just 'cause we sit so much, we don't sit up straight, 03:09 you know, we get low back pains. 03:10 So movement includes not only the way we move 03:14 but the posture we have, the way we stretch out, 03:17 all these things so I love it when you said, "Let's play," 03:20 so let's move and play at the same time 03:23 'cause that'll be fun. 03:24 Yeah, absolutely. Let's do it. 03:25 You bet. Let's go. 03:27 Let's start moving, man. 03:28 Well, before we start moving, 03:29 we've got some questions we gotta answer. 03:31 'Cause there are lots of people that write into the website 03:32 HeartWiseMinistries.org. 03:34 If you have a question, 03:35 go there now and you can fill out the form, 03:38 send a message and Dr. Marcum or someone on his team 03:40 will give you some general guidance. 03:42 But somebody's written in and says, 03:43 "I have advanced heart disease. 03:45 How do I know, 03:47 how much I should be able to exercise 03:48 or move and still be safe?" 03:51 So good for this person, 03:52 in the first place they are wanting to move 03:54 but they have a condition so how do they know? 03:57 Well, that's one of the keys that I think is having is... 04:00 People have to see the importance of moving 04:03 and what happens to the body if it doesn't move? 04:06 Well, advanced heart failure, for a variety of reasons 04:10 the heart doesn't pump well. 04:12 In the United States 04:13 the most common one is blockage in the arteries, 04:16 okay, other places there might be infections 04:19 but the heart gets weak for a variety of reasons, 04:22 can't work. 04:23 The body tries to compensate by making stress chemicals, 04:27 which can hurt the body further. 04:29 Well, exercise is a very important treatment 04:32 for any type of disease, especially heart disease. 04:35 It helps maximize the muscles that we have, 04:39 takes more oxygen, lower stress chemicals, 04:42 be it endorphins and other mechanisms. 04:44 But how does one know when we're overdoing it 04:47 especially if your heart's weak, 04:49 especially if you have a muscular problem? 04:51 Well, you wanna check with your physician first, 04:54 'cause they can give you the best guidelines. 04:57 But in general, when your body gets extremely fatigued, 05:00 we get a short of breath. 05:02 That's your body telling you that you're overdoing it 05:05 and you need to back off. 05:07 Now, I suggest that everyone see your doctor 05:09 and ask how much exercise you should be getting 05:12 to make sure you're not having a chronic medical condition 05:14 that's caused it. 05:16 But everyone should do at least something every day 05:19 with a weak heart. 05:21 And I found that as they start exercise programs 05:23 as they start small that they can gradually... 05:26 They get better musculoskeletal, 05:27 they get better oxygenation, they get better metabolism, 05:31 the muscle itself gets a little bit stronger, 05:33 the rest of the body works more efficiently 05:36 so the heart doesn't have to work as hard 05:38 so it helps every part of the body out. 05:41 So for advance heart failure, talk to your physician, 05:44 see what size of an exercise program fits you 05:47 and then start somewhere and build it. 05:49 I had one gentleman, 05:51 a normal ejection fractional heart is 50%, 05:54 it pumps about 50% of the blood that goes in it. 05:56 I had a fellow that had a 5% ejection fraction, 5%. 06:01 And he started out by walking four steps a day, 06:04 four steps a day. 06:06 Well, I saw him in the office a few weeks ago 06:08 and he's now walking 40 minutes a day. 06:10 Oh, wow. Now, he doesn't go too fast. 06:13 He's got a pacemaker in so his heart can't go real fast 06:16 but I tell him, 06:17 whenever you start getting shorter breath 06:19 that's your sign to walk. 06:20 Now, he doesn't always do 40 minutes at once. 06:22 Sometimes he does five minutes, 10 minutes 06:25 'cause different things get tired sooner. 06:27 But by doing that 06:29 he's prolonged the wearing out of his heart muscle 06:32 and it'll improve the function that it can do. 06:34 So you're just having them walk a few steps at a time 06:36 and then we get out of breath, take a rest. 06:39 Yeah, but now, what I'm gonna do now 06:41 is I'm gonna say make your exercise playful. 06:44 And I'm gonna try... 06:46 You've inspired me, 06:47 I may try to start figuring out ways 06:48 to make exercise fun and playful. 06:51 Well, how can I? 06:52 What can we do to give people a playful way to exercise? 06:55 Now, the Bible, 06:57 you know, we talk about biblical prescription, 06:59 movement is a biblical prescription, 07:01 okay. 07:03 People moved throughout Bible times, okay, 07:05 but they didn't have cars, 07:06 and they didn't have some of the things that we had 07:08 so it was just natural to move. 07:10 Now, it's natural not to move, you know, and we sort of... 07:15 The paradigm is totally switched. 07:17 So when that's happened, 07:18 we have to recognize that we have a problem here 07:20 that's putting stress on the parts 07:22 and we have to overcompensate by doing things. 07:25 And some people I talk to, 07:27 you know, and I remind them of how important moving is 07:30 and they just realize it is, they adapt it, they say, 07:33 "I feel better than I've had in a long period of time." 07:36 I'll tell you what, we've got a clip 07:38 from the Biblical Prescriptions for Life Bible study 07:41 that talks about just such a case, the Harris's, 07:45 some patients of yours that you saw a while back. 07:47 Let's have a listen to their story about movement. 07:51 The Harris's have been married 60 years. 07:54 Both of them had heart problems when they were in the 70s. 07:57 She had atrial fibrillation and he had a bypass surgery. 08:01 But they had done so well through the years 08:03 on really minimal medications. 08:06 Last summer while they were in their 80s, 08:09 they travelled to Alaska on their own 08:11 and had the trip of a lifetime. 08:14 The main problem Mr. Harris has been having on that trip 08:17 and lately he's been arthritis, 08:19 both of the hips and of the knees. 08:22 And Mrs. Harris has been swelling in the legs, 08:25 a condition we call edema. 08:27 A few months ago they were in the office 08:29 and we were talking about these problems 08:31 and I explained to them 08:33 that more important than taking their medications, 08:35 which were minimal was the treatment of movement. 08:39 This truth of movement needed to be practiced 08:42 just with more care. 08:44 I talked to them about wisely 08:46 continuing to move all the body parts. 08:49 This was gonna be a key treatment for them, 08:52 not only for their current symptoms 08:55 but to maintain their independence. 08:58 Mr. Harris was continuing... 09:00 As the years went by they have more stiffness and joint pains 09:03 and I explained to him an activity 09:05 like just hourly stretching 09:07 and walking with his cane around this house every hour 09:10 would help keep the parts more limber. 09:12 Well, this made a lot of sense to him 09:14 as he used to be an engineer. 09:16 And guess what? 09:17 Soon he was charting his stretching every hour. 09:19 He was keeping a journal of a steps. 09:22 I also explained to him 09:24 that movements were actually helping 09:25 decrease the aging process 09:27 by slowing a condition called oxidation 09:30 and lengthening the telomeres. 09:33 Movement was also improving blood flow 09:36 and by moving he was using neural pathways 09:38 involved in balance. 09:40 I explained to both of them 09:41 that no other pill or treatment could accomplish this. 09:45 It affected every cell of the body. 09:47 I also explained, 09:49 the longer we are inactive the sooner we age. 09:52 I explained to her that just this movement 09:54 would help keep the blood moving in her legs, 09:57 lowering the risk of blood clots. 09:59 Moving and stretching would also help the valves 10:01 in the veins push the fluid out of her legs. 10:05 I explained to both of them 10:06 that movement was one of the safest 10:08 and cheapest treatments for their symptoms. 10:12 They were both on the school of saving money 10:14 and once I explained 10:15 the physiologic benefits to them, 10:17 they were committed. 10:19 Movement treat the entire body. 10:21 Every cell of the system benefits. 10:23 It might be something simple like moving around the room. 10:27 Stretching all the parts or walking on a pathway. 10:30 Movement is a biblical prescription for life. 10:34 Wow, you know, Dr. Marcum, 10:36 it sounds like movement was one of the best things 10:38 that the Harris's could have done for themselves. 10:40 Yeah, it was, Nick, and the reason 10:42 I wanna stress that so much in this program today is, 10:45 people just don't think about some of the basics of health. 10:49 Well, why isn't emphasized? 10:51 Well, you know, we've evolved into a society 10:53 that doesn't have to move. 10:55 You know, we don't really have to if we don't want to. 10:58 You know, we do a lot of things 11:01 that we're indoor people instead of outdoors. 11:03 We text instead of talk. 11:06 You know, we don't have to raise our food, 11:08 we buy our food. 11:09 So we've changed from the way things used to be 11:12 and with that there's been some health consequences 11:14 that contribute to chronic disease. 11:18 Now, modern medicine has helped in many different ways, 11:20 but chronic disease is something 11:22 that many times it's our lifestyle. 11:24 And one of these big important issues 11:26 that people don't think about is moving every day. 11:29 Now, I take care of a lot of older people 11:32 and as we get older, you know, I'm not old. 11:36 But as we get older, you know, things hurt them more. 11:38 And people don't want to do it 11:40 'cause the pain keeps them from doing. 11:41 "Oh, it hurts, I can't do It. 11:43 It's easier just to stay in bed." 11:44 The one I'm telling, 11:46 the older group that we're talking to today 11:48 is finding something you can do and build on it. 11:52 You know, ask God 11:53 to find some type of movement you can do 11:56 and build on it and make it a habit. 11:58 Just like you have the habit to brush your teeth every day, 12:01 make it a habit to move every hour. 12:03 And when you do this, 12:04 you're gonna start enjoying the health benefits 12:07 and you're gonna start noticing that you're thinking better. 12:09 It might keep you from falling and breaking your hip, 12:12 it might help you keeping ambulatory, 12:15 it might help your brain working better 12:17 and thinking more active 12:18 'cause you're getting all that oxygen. 12:19 The benefits, like I talked to the Harris's are tremendous. 12:23 And today I just want us to focus 12:24 on the importance of movement, 12:27 and if we don't like to move, 12:29 ask God as you move with Him 12:30 to think about the physical movement as well. 12:32 Yeah. 12:34 I think, you know, for me one of the keys 12:35 to regular exercise and the regular movement, 12:37 it's just to find something that I enjoy doing. 12:40 If I enjoy it, if it's kind of like play, 12:43 then I'm really likely to do it more frequently. 12:45 And also finding a group of people 12:47 that I have shared interest with, 12:50 like I ride bikes with a group of guys 12:52 every weekend 12:53 and, you know, it's kind of nice 12:54 to have that community 'cause if I'm not there 12:57 they're gonna hold me accountable and say, 12:58 "Hey, where were you?" 12:59 So, you know, community, if you can build that 13:01 and find something that you enjoy doing. 13:02 Those are the couple of things that really helped me out. 13:04 You know, what's helped me out is, I have headphones, 13:07 you know, I got some headphones and I can listen to music, 13:10 I can listen to lectures and sermons, you can do a lot. 13:14 Get two things done and then making it fun, 13:16 making it more like play. 13:19 That's a good place to work on. 13:21 There's a couple of good tips right there. 13:22 I'll tell you what, Dr. Marcum, we're gonna take a quick break, 13:24 but we'll be back with more on movement. 13:26 What we need to know and what we need to worry about 13:29 and be considering when we do movement 13:31 in just a moment. |
Revised 2019-03-11