About AIDS
Living better through exercise!
By Sandy Bartlett, Fri., Feb. 27, 2004
We've known since the beginning that poz people who got regular exercise stayed healthier and survived longer. Today, the "why" is better understood, and there are new reasons related to treatment that make exercise more important than ever.
Chill out: Stress really depresses the immune system, and an HIV-positive person just doesn't need any more immune impairment. Exercise is probably the most beneficial stress-reliever there is.
Muscle in the bank: If a patch of bad health strikes, someone with AIDS may begin to experience "wasting syndrome" – serious weight and tissue loss. In a nutshell, the body devours lean muscle mass (catabolism) in a desperate bid to stay alive, because it doesn't have, or can't "find" or use, normal energy sources (metabolism). Having lots of muscle mass provides a sort of savings account to draw on to keep the body from eating the heart itself.
Serious as a heart attack: Heart disease, America's greatest killer, is rapidly becoming one of the biggest killers of HIVers, too – but caused by the meds, not the virus. Some anti-HIV drugs cause metabolic disorders, including lipid (fats) misregulation. The result: Cholesterol and triglyceride levels go sky-high, which can cause heart disease, even among relatively young people. Lipodystrophy also causes disfiguring loss of mass in the arms and face, even while building up fat deposits around the waist and shoulder blades. Exercise, along with careful diet, is a critical tool for managing lipodystrophy.
If you've got HIV, regular exercise is one of the greatest things you can do for yourself. And no, you don't have to belong to some fancy gym to exercise methodically, so no excuses! Do yourself a favor with exercise – even just a daily half-hour of walking – and look better, feel better, and live longer!
Sandy Bartlett
Community Education Coordinator, AIDS Services of Austin
