יום רביעי, יולי 20, 2005
I was thumbing through the May 2005 Readers Digest and came across an interesting article (to me, that is) explaining why exercise is good - through the chemistry of inflammation and growth. I sort of knew why exercising is good but never really fully understood the whole thing as I am not an Exercise Biology major.
"Every time you work out and sweat, you stress your muscles, draining them of enery stores; you actually injure them a little bit. It's not enough to do long-term damage, but enough to stimulate repair and growth and to make the muscles a little stronger.
Enzymes and proteins (eek! my poster fell off my cupboard!!) from those muscles enter your bloodstream, where they start a powerful chain reaction of inflammation, or decay, then repair, and finally growth.
The proteins that control inflammation and growth are called cytokines, and they regulate crucial metabolic pathways in almost every tissue and cell in your body. All forms of aerobic exercise release these proteins in direct proportion to the duration and intensity of exercise.
In marathon runners (woohoo! yay!), for example, the levels of some cytokines rise as much as a hundredfold by the end of the race. Still, those cytokines for inflammation and decay are always circulating, quietly chipping away at your body night and day, if you are sedentary. They are not that powerful, but they are relentless.
Your arteries are the part of your body most exposed to the chemicals of inflammation and decay (because they carry the blood). They are bathed in this chemistry for decades on end, and in response, they may become inflammed.
Beyond diet, exercise can help heal those wonded blood vessels. It appears to change the biology from inflammation to repair. Every time you exercise, blood flows through your muscles, picking up the cytokines for growth and taking them to all corners of your body. Every joint, bone, organ, and even the far reaches of your brain get a dose of healthy, rejuvenating chemistry each time you sweat."
By Chris Crowley & Henry S. Lodge, MD
¶ 11:24 PM
"Every time you work out and sweat, you stress your muscles, draining them of enery stores; you actually injure them a little bit. It's not enough to do long-term damage, but enough to stimulate repair and growth and to make the muscles a little stronger.
Enzymes and proteins (eek! my poster fell off my cupboard!!) from those muscles enter your bloodstream, where they start a powerful chain reaction of inflammation, or decay, then repair, and finally growth.
The proteins that control inflammation and growth are called cytokines, and they regulate crucial metabolic pathways in almost every tissue and cell in your body. All forms of aerobic exercise release these proteins in direct proportion to the duration and intensity of exercise.
In marathon runners (woohoo! yay!), for example, the levels of some cytokines rise as much as a hundredfold by the end of the race. Still, those cytokines for inflammation and decay are always circulating, quietly chipping away at your body night and day, if you are sedentary. They are not that powerful, but they are relentless.
Your arteries are the part of your body most exposed to the chemicals of inflammation and decay (because they carry the blood). They are bathed in this chemistry for decades on end, and in response, they may become inflammed.
Beyond diet, exercise can help heal those wonded blood vessels. It appears to change the biology from inflammation to repair. Every time you exercise, blood flows through your muscles, picking up the cytokines for growth and taking them to all corners of your body. Every joint, bone, organ, and even the far reaches of your brain get a dose of healthy, rejuvenating chemistry each time you sweat."
By Chris Crowley & Henry S. Lodge, MD
¶ 11:24 PM
