What is Metabolic Syndrome and What Can Be Done About It?

Metabolic syndrome is not a disease. It’s a collection of risk factors that can, as this piece in the Washington Post puts it, "eventually set you up for more serious health problems."  The conditions include a large waist circumference; high blood pressure; high
levels of triglycerides; low levels of good (HDL) cholesterol; and high
blood sugar. People with three or more of those five risk factors can welcome themselves to the metabolic syndrome club, which now inlcudes 25 percent of American adults. Want to get out of the club? The good news, the Post reports, is that "a modest amount of moderate intensity exercise was very effective in improving metabolic syndrome risk."
Researchers at Duke University Medical Center’s department of medicine divided 171 men and women with metabolic syndrome into four groups. One was a control group, whose members continued to be sedentary. The other three groups included a low amount/moderate intensity group, which did brisk walking three to
five days a week; a low amount/vigorous intensity group; and a high amount/vigorous
intensity group, which  jogged at a vigorous pace about 17 miles a week,
putting in about three hours. When it was over, the researchers were persuaded that moderate intensity activity every day, or almost every day, may be
better for metabolic syndrome risk reduction than more vigorous
activity a few days a week. For more results, read the piece in the Washington Post.