[Importance and evidence of regular physical activity for prevention and treatment of diseases]

A sedentary lifestyle has been shown to have negative effects on morbidity and mortality. In contrast, a large number of prospective cohort studies on the effects of regular physical activity demonstrated positive effects. Therefore, physical training is today an essential part of prevention and therapy in internal medicine. This review is based on literature research in meta-analysis and review papers. Regular physical exercise or training is a significant and evidence-based part of prevention and therapy of diseases such as heart, cardiovascular and lung diseases, diabetes mellitus, renal disease and cancer. Evidence of training effects is mostly high grade. Physical activity or exercise training is indicated in many diseases as medicine--similar as a drug. It is applied after acute treatment as a component of the standard drug therapy. There is a non-linear dose-response effect, psychological aspects and some side-effects need to be considered.In conclusion, physical exercise acts as a highly efficient drug, and should be used in many diseases. Training recommendations refer to the kind, the duration, the intensity, the frequency and the increase of training.