Exercising the actuator does help it last longer....at home base first thing in the day....is good enough for that.
But then PHI had some interesting ideas like putting the Engine Start Switch on the cyclic so one could ALWAYS have both hands on the flight controls even during the start procedure......as if a pair of knees would not trap the Cyclic and keep it from moving.
We bought a used PHI Machine....cheap....and that was the first thing we removed and put the aircraft back to the state it was built by Bell.
Then there was the floppy cyclic crowd who removed all friction from the controls giving no mind to commonsense.
In the 212 with the Sperry Helipilot systems installed....there was a preset level of friction to prevent cyclic movement due to vibrations from causing feedback issues in the SAS system.
What was good for Sperry seemed good in general.