Can Exercise Be As Good As Pills?

A recent study has found that exercise could be as good a medicine as pills for people with conditions such as heart disease.

The work in the British Medical Journal looked at hundreds of trials involving nearly 340,000 patients to assess the merits of exercise and drugs in preventing death.

Physical activity rivalled some heart drugs and outperformed stroke medicine.

Researchers say the findings suggest exercise should be added to prescriptions.

Experts stressed that patients should not ditch their drugs for exercise – rather, they should use both in tandem, even as drug prescription rates continue to rise.