Monthly Why? - Why regular exercise can improve your health
We have always known that exercise was good for us, but in this discussion I will present the scientific evidence to help substantiate this claim. Exercise can help to effectively decrease the progression and onset of various chronic disease processes. Let us observe this as follows:
Cardiovascular effects:
Cardiorespiratory fitness is the most important indicator of heart health, it is measured as VO2max or maximum oxygen uptake. Science shows the #1 metabolic equivalent increase in a person's exercise testing can confer a 12% improvement in long term survival. A low cardiorespiratory fitness is an independent risk factor for worsening health. Studies in rats show that improved physical fitness helped increase lifespan and health. Endurance exercise has many beneficial effects and increases myocardial oxygen carrying capacity and muscle efficiency and ATP generation.
Mental Health:
Exercise in a noninvasive approach can help conditions like Depression, Anxiety, addictions, as well as neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
Experimental studies in animal models suggest that regular exercise helps expression of brain hormones like BDNF (Brain derived neurotrophic factor), which can play a beneficial role in mental health through its various metabolic effects. Exercise may also affect the availability of other beneficial neurotransmitters (dopamine, serotonin, glutamate, norepinephrine) that help in the maintenance of mental wellbeing.
Depression: Regular running helped reduce depressive symptoms comparable to psychotherapy, this may be in relation to the skeletal agents secreted in response to regular training. Regular exercise may also help curb addictive behaviors and decrease stress.
Diabetes prevention and treatment:
Diabetes has a strong genetic predisposition, however, regular exercise and lifestyle changes can delay, control, and help prevent diabetes. The Finnish Diabetic Prevention Study showed a 58% reduction in type 2 DM in the lifestyle group that comprised both diet and exercise intervention.
Summary:
Exercise induced myokines or muscle hormones can do the following:
Help in Bone health and prevention of osteoporosis
Improve learning, memory, and cognition, and help decrease the incidence of mental health disorders
Help in glucose metabolism
Increase the lipolysis or breakdown of lipids to be used as energy
Increase the browning of adipose tissue, which will help in decreasing fat mass
Help decrease the growth of cancer cells in the breast and colon
Having elaborated on the benefits of exercise, I would encourage you to discuss with your healthcare provider the safe way to start your exercise journey and live long and strong!
