Living with a chronic illness means carrying a heavy burden daily. Limitations define each day. Pain, fatigue, brain fog or limited mobility become a fact of life. In this state, exercising sounds like just another burden on top of an already exhausting routine.

But here’s the truth: Moving your body will help your body.

Exercise is one of the most effective, underused forms of treatment we have. Unlike a prescription for powerful chemicals, exercise doesn’t just hide symptoms; it rebuilds and restores lost physical function and well-being. In fact, research now supports prescribing exercise as a front-line therapy for at least 26 conditions.

All Exercise Is Good

As the Independent notes, engaging in any form of healthy physical activity acts like a biological multi-tool. Prescription medicines and other drugs treat symptoms, but movement affects your root physiology—nearly every system in your body. Studies say it rivals or exceeds pharmaceutical interventions, and when you exercise, you stay free of the pharmaceutical side effects.

There’s not a health issue out there that exercise won’t touch or make you more resilient against. It boosts sleep, strengthens everything from bones to the heart, calms inflammation, raises mood, and keeps your immune system highly tuned.

Exercise also benefits your muscles. If you are sedentary, like many people are, your muscle mass decreases approximately 3 to 8 percent per decade after age 30, which may lead to a 50 percent reduction in muscle tissue by your 80s or 90s. As muscle fades, the risks stack up: less mobility, more falls, brittle bones, stiff joints and a sharp rise in insulin resistance. Exercise protects you from these hazards.

For brain protection, strength training helps release compounds that guard neurons, speed up recovery from brain injuries, and strengthen the blood-brain barrier, which filters out toxins and prevents inflammation. That’s no small thing, especially when you consider that brain inflammation and nerve damage are common in diseases like multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

If you’re living with pain, there’s also hope. Evidence indicates that physical activity and exercise can significantly reduce chronic pain, enhance physical function, and prevent diseases from recurring. This applies to heart disease and stroke, diabetes and even cancer. These aren’t minor improvements; they are life-altering outcomes.

But perhaps the most shocking effect comes from a 2011 study in the Lancet. Researchers followed a large group of people for years, comparing death rates between those who exercised at least 15 minutes a day and those who were inactive. On average, the active group had lower death rates, which researchers equated to roughly three additional years of life expectancy. Every additional 15 minutes of daily exercise beyond the baseline was linked to a 4 percent drop in overall mortality and a 1 percent drop in cancer-related deaths.

What Type of Exercise?

If you’re hesitating because you think your condition holds you back, know this: Any movement you can do consistently will help. That might mean standing, stretching, walking, lifting something light, or following a gentle routine. Whatever it is, keep moving.

If you’re capable of moderate-intensity exercise, you can build a habit of walking, hiking, running, cycling, strength training or other activities that quicken your breathing and raise your heart rate.

Strength training in particular is especially powerful. It helps you keep muscle, protect joints, boost metabolism, strengthen bones, and improve balance and mobility. You don’t need heavy weights—resistance bands, light dumbbells or even your own body weight can be all you need to build the strength to live well with your condition.

Good Stewardship

Our pains, limitations and conditions remind us that caring for our bodies is about biblical stewardship. Our health is something gifted and entrusted to us by God, to be cared for with discipline, wisdom and gratitude.

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit …? … Therefore honor God with your bodies” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; New International Version). Your body is a living system designed to thrive under consistent care—and able to rejuvenate once you boost your level of bodily exercise.

Despite this clear call to care for the body and the overwhelming evidence showing exercise’s power against dozens of chronic conditions, it is remarkable that so many doctors still reach for the prescription pad before anything else. Modern medicine comes from a secular and materialist perspective, and rejects the truth about the Creator, His laws of cause and effect, and His mandate for stewardship. Otherwise doctors would emphasize low-cost, high-benefit habits like dietary discipline, natural nutrition, rest and exercise.

Stepping up your level of exercise will bring you profound benefits, even if you are fighting a chronic condition—despite the medical industry’s emphasis on the pharmaceutical industry. It might be uncomfortable at first, but it’s an act of obedience to the laws of cause and effect, a way of honoring the Creator of your body, and a path toward a healthier and happier life. Get moving! Each step, taken with intention and faith, brings you closer to your goal!