We know that the ideal to reach the elderly avoiding certain illnesses is, in addition to ' healthy eating ', to follow an active lifestyle. Why is sport so healthy? What is the optimal ' dose ' of exercise?
When we do physical exercise we get tired but, curiously, we also feel more agile, calmer, better. If we undergo this stimulus regularly for a long time, that is, if we train, we get to adapt to this fatigue and, in addition, the positive sensations are cronifican, and all this is Consequence of what is happening at the organic level in our tissues and cells.
The optimal dose and type of exercise vary for each person in each situation: age, disease, lifestyle ... Hence the difficulty of establishing guidelines volume of a cone that can be applied to the whole population. However, there is an indispensable minimum for almost every person. Thus, the World Health Organization recommends in a generic way that every adult (and elderly,) as long as your medical limitations do not prevent it, you should perform at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise weekly or at least 75 minutes of high intensity (or the proportional combination of both). Also, international experts recommend exercising strength (such as lifting weights) involving large muscle groups between once and twice a week. In addition, it seems that higher doses of exercise (300 minutes of moderate exercise or 150 of strenuous exercise weekly) can report additional health benefits.
When we do physical exercise we get tired but, curiously, we also feel more agile, calmer, better. If we undergo this stimulus regularly for a long time, that is, if we train, we get to adapt to this fatigue and, in addition, the positive sensations are cronifican, and all this is Consequence of what is happening at the organic level in our tissues and cells.
The optimal dose and type of exercise vary for each person in each situation: age, disease, lifestyle ... Hence the difficulty of establishing guidelines volume of a cone that can be applied to the whole population. However, there is an indispensable minimum for almost every person. Thus, the World Health Organization recommends in a generic way that every adult (and elderly,) as long as your medical limitations do not prevent it, you should perform at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise weekly or at least 75 minutes of high intensity (or the proportional combination of both). Also, international experts recommend exercising strength (such as lifting weights) involving large muscle groups between once and twice a week. In addition, it seems that higher doses of exercise (300 minutes of moderate exercise or 150 of strenuous exercise weekly) can report additional health benefits.
Benefits for the brain
The adaptation of our tissues to the stimulus involved in physical exercise is modulated by countless molecular pathways, often dependent on the organ we are analyzing. For example, at the cerebral level exercise modulates the increase in vascularization and blood flow, it raises the levels of neurotrophic factors that produce repair and growth of new neurons, reduces oxidative stress and helps to degrade certain toxic proteins that can give rise to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson. At the cardiovascular level, the chronic exercise produces anti-inflammatory effects, increased blood flow and vagal tone (which manifests with a decrease in heart rate), vasodilation (which results in a decrease in blood pressure) and reduction of blood lipid levels, among other benefits.
Prevents cancer
Being physically active also prevents cancer, especially breast and colon, as exercise reduces free sex hormones and certain metabolic hormones, oxidative damage and pro-inflammatory cytokines, while promoting certain molecules that block the spread of cancer such as SPARC or Calprotectin, in addition to stimulating immune function (at least if the exercise is not very intense). On the other hand, the exercise is directly linked to the improvement of metabolic diseases such as obesity, diabetes or dyslipidemia. This is because it promotes insulin sensitivity and the ability to catch glucose by the muscle, more fatty acids are eliminated from the bloodstream and increased caloric expenditure.
In short, physical exercise is effective in the treatment and prevention of many diseases that substantially condition our ability to live more and better.
Helios Pareja and Alejandro Lucía are researchers from the European University. His research group is dedicated to understanding the biological mechanisms by which exercise helps prevent (and even treat) many diseases. In addition, they also study the biological profile of healthy centenarians in order to better understand what ' healthy aging ' is, and to analyze whether physical exercise could also help to live a long life free of major illnesses. This article has been written in collaboration with the Department of Communication of the European University.
No comments:
Post a Comment