Does Exercise Help Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFIDS)?
Although CFS patients are often concerned that exertion can produce a flare-up of their symptoms, two recently published papers indicate the contrary. That is, gentle physical conditioning can actually reduce severe fatigue and widespread pain (British Medical Journal vol. 314, June 7, 1997; and Scand. J. Rheumatol. 25: 77-86, 1996). The reason for this seems to be that inactivity (an important component of CFS and FM) has major negative consequences for the patient. Over the past six months announced, an exercise fitness trial in CFS has been conducted. In addition to seeing if exercise can improve the symptoms of CFS, one of the goals of the study is to find a level of exercise that CFS patients can safely tolerate. It is important to counteract the effects that severe physical inactivity, which is a significant part of CFS, can have on a person’s health. These effects include cardiovascular disease, neurally mediated hypotension, and bone mineral loss. Furthermore, the benefits of i
