Regular exercise plays an essential role in maintaining good health. Sports activities positively influence body systems such as breathing, heart, circulation, immune system, muscles, kidneys, bones, digestive system, brain as well as energy metabolism. Plenty of exercise also promotes mental balance, prevents weight gain and obesity (adiposity), and reduces the risk of degenerative diseases in old age.
The positive effects of exercise affect all organ systems:
Energy expenditure
- Increased basal metabolic rate
- Increase in maximum oxygen uptake
- Accelerated metabolism
- High percentage of muscle compared to adipose tissue leads to improved physical performance
Respiratory system (J00-J99)
- Improvement of respiratory efficiency by:
- Maximizing lung capacity (increasing vital capacity).
- Basically slower breathing rate
Blood, blood-forming organs – immune system (D50-D90).
- Strengthening of the immune system (NK cell activation see below under laboratory parameters) – Reduction of susceptibility to infections.
Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases (E00-E90).
- Antiatherogenic effect (“directed against the development of atherosclerosis”).
- Better energy production through increased oxidation of fatty acids as well as carbohydrates; fat burning reaches its highest values depending on the state of training (on average at moderate intensities around 50-60% of the maximum oxygen uptake)
- Fat oxidation – A few prolonged exercise activities (with moderate endurance training) burn more body fat than several short exercises. In addition, if an exercise session is interrupted for 15 minutes, fat oxidation (fat burning) increases [Important note for weight loss patients! ].Note!A high-carbohydrate diet inhibits fat oxidation, while a low-carbohydrate diet supports it. Accordingly, an intake of carbohydrates hours before exercise leads to a rise in insulin and thus to a reduction in fat oxidation of up to 35%. This effect of insulin on fat burning can last 6-8 hours postprandially.
- Reduction of glucose levels / blood glucose levels (increase glucose utilization and decrease insulin resistance).
Cardiovascular system (I00-I99).
- Decrease in resting heart rate – Enlargement of the myocardium (heart muscle)Endurance training enlarges the right and left ventricles, (strength training, on the other hand, results in enlargement of the left ventricle only) and enlargement of the diameter of the coronary vessels results in a lower heart rate
- In endurance athletes, diastolic function increased, leading to an improvement in cardiac output (HRV); in strength athletes, it decreased, but remained within the normal range.
- Improvement in blood flow leads to better supply of organs and muscles with oxygen and vital substances.
- Reduction of blood pressure
- Of healthy people
- Of patients with hypertension: resistance training (minus 13.5 mmHg) and endurance exercise (minus 8.7 mmHg) appear to lower systolic blood pressure in hypertensive patients as well as medication, according to one study; dynamic resistance training (minus 7.2 mmHg) and isometric training (minus 4.9 mmHg also reduced blood pressure.
- Reduction of cardiovascular risks – increase in HDL cholesterol and decrease in LDL cholesterol.
Mouth, esophagus (food pipe), stomach and intestines (K00-K67; K90-K93).
- Prevention of indigestion – stimulation of digestive activity (constipation ↓).
Musculoskeletal system and connective tissue (M00-M99).
- Muscle development (anabolic effect).
- Strength training strengthens the myocardium (heart muscle), but only the left ventricle (heart chamber) – endurance training, on the other hand, increases the right and left ventricles.
- Optimization of intramuscular coordination
- Increasing the energy turnover in the muscle and the number and size of mitochondria.
- Increase in myoglobin content in the muscles leads to better oxygen supply to the muscles
- Prevention of muscle breakdown
- Positive effect on bone density as well as formation – prevention of osteoporosis – physical activities in health, recreational and competitive sports are an essential requirement for bone health.Versatile, strength-based forms of exercise have bone anabolic effects. In particular, strength and game athletes have high bone density values due to bone-acting hormones.
- Bone protection through a well-developed musculature.
- Protection of the joints by strengthening the tendons and ligaments, which are connected to the muscles
Neoplasms – tumor diseases (C00-D48).
- Primary prevention (reduction of risk) for:
- Bronchial carcinoma (lung cancer) (-26%).
- Colon carcinoma (colorectal cancer) (-40%)
- Mammary carcinoma (breast cancer) (-20-30%)
- Pancreatic carcinoma (pancreatic cancer).
- Prostate carcinoma (prostate cancer)
- Tertiary prevention (reducing the risk of disease recurrence) for:
- Colon cancer
- Breast carcinoma (20-40%)
- Prostate carcinoma
Psyche – nervous system (F00-F99; G00-G99)
- Increased mental performance – concentration and thinking processes are easier and accelerated.
- The loss of acumen and memory in old age is prevented due to better brain supply of oxygenated blood
- Better stress management
- Improvement or prevention of depressive moods, anxiety and stress [Endurance training: three times a week in the range of 50-85% of maximum heart rate (HRmax) for ten to twelve weeks].
- Increase self-esteem
- Avoidance of sleep disorders (insomnia)
- Reducing the risk of apoplexy (stroke).
- Reduction in the risk of dementia – due to increased cerebral blood flow and lower incidence of cardiovascular disease, respectively.
Genitourinary system (kidneys, urinary tract – sex organs) (N00-N99).
- Preservation or improvement of libido and sexuality.
Laboratory parameters
- Stimulation of anabolic steroid hormones – testosterone and DHEA – and STH (growth hormone) – as a result, NK cell activation (natural killer cells).Note: NK cells are the mainstay of cellular immune defense – especially in viral infections and tumor diseases.
- Lowering CRP and fibrinogen – serum CRP level is an indicator of atherosclerosis – increased CRP levels indicate an increased risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack) and apoplexy (stroke).
- Increase in HDL cholesterol (+5-10%) and decrease in triglycerides (about -30%); a significant reduction in LDL cholesterol, is only achieved with increased sports intensity.
- Decrease in insulin resistance in diabetes mellitus type 2 / metabolic syndrome – thus better utilization of glucose → lowering of blood glucose levels (increase glucose utilization and decrease insulin resistance).
- Increase in endorphins (happy hormones) in the blood leads to increased euphoric states and mental relaxation
- Increase in telomerase activity
- Increase in telomere length after endurance exercise (207 ± 17 minutes per week) compared with the control group; when subjects were classified according to their fitness status, there was a strong effect of telomere length increase in subjects with poor baseline fitness; there were no training effects on telomere length in subjects with better baseline fitness.
- Endurance training over three days, i.e., 45 minutes each of running or walking with an increase in heart rate to 60 percent of personal maximum or high-intensity interval training (HIT) using the “4 x 4 method” (alternating four minutes of maximal exercise with four minutes of rest) resulted in telomeres being 3.3 to 3.5 percent longer. Thereby, the activity of telomerase, which is responsible for the lengthening, had doubled by endurance sports and interval training.In another group, strength training was performed; this had no effect on the length of the telomeres.
Note: Telomerase is an enzyme of the cell nucleus. After each cell division, a piece of the telomeres (end piece of the chromosomes) is missing. By restoring the telomeres, telomerase prevents chromosomes from becoming shorter with each cell division, i.e. this can slow down the aging process.
- In cardiovascular risk patients, regular exercise reduces the frequency and extent of microalbuminuria.
Further
- Life expectancy: men in their late 60s who were active for 90 minutes or more a day had a 39% increased chance of celebrating their 90th birthday, according to one study. For women, less than 30 minutes of physical activity appears to be optimal.
- Positive association between physical fitness and brain volume: cardiorespiratory fitness may likely lead to improved brain health and slower age-related decline in brain mass.
To achieve these goals, it is important to choose the right sports discipline, as well as to know the necessary individual training frequency and duration. This is where the athlete check helps you:
The athlete check includes a computer-assisted determination of the individual health risks, the cofactors – with causative factors – of existing diseases and the individual vital substance additional requirements* . * Vital substances include vitamins, minerals, trace elements, vital amino acids, vital fatty acids, etc.Regular sports activities serve your performance in every phase of life.
