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It is widely believed that regular exercise helps people become fitter, stronger and healthier. There is plenty of evidence that exercise is correlated with lower incidence of various diseases.

However, it could be that people who are born naturally healthy (and have a genetically lower risk of these diseases) also are genetically coded to have more energy, and therefore exercise more.

Put another way, somebody who is sick and tired all the time is less likely to exercise, but this doesn't mean the lack of exercise caused their illness.

Is there any convincing evidence that this is a causal relationship from exercise to health?

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> Does exercise make you healthier, or do healthy people just exercise more? Both could be true. –  fals dikotame 10 hours ago
    
I don't think this is quite enough for an answer (very small sample size, news article), but maybe a route to research on are twin studies. See this article for instance. –  drat 9 hours ago
    
This has been flagged as containing no notable claim, but I think it is a widely-believed claim that doing exercise makes you healthier. Should be easy to prove with some randomised trials. (I remember hearing an experimenter reporting difficulties because members of a control group, having been enrolled in an exercise experiment, and then left alone with no treatment, became self-motivated by the neglect to increase their daily exercise themselves!) –  Oddthinking 6 hours ago
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@Oddthinking, hmm. I see now. Maybe we change the title to, does exercise make you healthier, to give spotlight on the main claim? I thought there was no way any person would be skeptical about the fact the exercise makes you healthy. –  georgechalhoub 5 hours ago
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@GeorgeChalhoub: Done. –  Oddthinking 4 hours ago

1 Answer 1

Besides,

taking away your stress

exercise is proven to increase concentrations of norepinephrine, a chemical that can moderate the brain’s response to stress.

and boosting happy chemicals

usually within five minutes after moderate exercise you get a mood-enhancement effect.

and alleviating long-term depression

data suggests that active people are less depressed than inactive people, those who were active and stopped tend to be more depressed than those who maintain or initiate an exercise program

and improving your self-confidence

regardless of weight, sexual orientation, gender, or age, exercise can quickly elevate a person's perception of his or her attractiveness: self-confidence and self-worth.

and preventing cognitive decline

exercising boosts the chemicals in the brain that support and prevent degeneration of the hippocampus, an important part of the brain for memory and learning, which would prevent Alzheimer.

and reducing anxiety

the warm and fuzzy chemicals that are released after exercise can help people with anxiety disorders calm down

and help controlling addiction

we all are addicted to something, right? Whether it is drugs, alcohol, internet, food or sex, exercise can help in addiction recovery

and unleashing your creativity

It is reported that one gym session can boost creativity for up to two hours afterwards.

and reducing the chances of developing heart disease, stroke, and diabetes

It is reported by over 11 scientific articles that bicycling and walking reduce your chance of getting all those diseases.

and making you lose weight

you don't evidence for that? Do you?

and promoting better sleep

regular physical activity can help you fall asleep faster and sharpen your sleep.

and lowering risk of all the following

up to a 35% lower risk of coronary heart disease and stroke and up to a 50% lower risk of type 2 diabetes and up to a 50% lower risk of colon cancer and up to a 20% lower risk of breast cancer and a 30% lower risk of early death and up to an 83% lower risk of osteoarthritis and up to a 68% lower risk of hip fracture and a 30% lower risk of falls (among older adults) and up to a 30% lower risk of depression and up to a 30% lower risk of dementia

and preventing osteoporosis

Weight-bearing exercises, like running, walking and weight-lifting, help lower your odds of getting osteoporosis as you grow older

and reducing the severity of asthma

swimming is one of the best exercises for people with asthma, exercise helps in fewer or milder asthma attacks overall and a need for less medication.

and promoting a healthy pregnancy

Relaxation exercises and Kegel exercise that strengthen the pelvic muscles and back exercises are all important for pregnant women.

and having anti-ageing effects

exercise might be the best anti-ageing pill according to many scientists.

and improving your sex life

The medical research points towards it: the fitter you are, the better your sex life is.

there is no evidence that exercise makes you healthier at all.

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486 words of pure, unfiltered sarcasm. Would you mind providing references to the part and lowering risk of all the following? –  Maurycy Zarzycki 2 hours ago
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It it not shown that despite those factors, exercise makes you no healthier. I suggest rephrasing it as besides (...), there is no evidence that exercise makes you healthier at all. –  gerrit 1 hour ago

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