Tired of Exercising, Science is Coming to your Rescue

Let's discuss exercise a little, but I guess you are tired of listening to that already because there have been over 100 thousand papers published on the health benefit of this activity but about 80% of people in the United States do not perform exercise, with only 18% meeting the weekly recommendations for cardiovascular exercise mark. While I did not check the percentage of people not doing exercise in your country, there is a possibility that you do not engage in any physical form of exercise. This might be different in underdeveloped countries where they have to do lots of physical activities on a daily basis like walking long distances or farming all day.

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Exercise isn't something that we inherited from our ancestors, its known impact was seen as far back as 2500 BC in China but it didn't become a deal until in the 1940s when scientists began to perform studies in England. It was observed that drivers of the red busses were more likely to die of a heart attack or coronary heart disease as a result of inactivity compared to their conductors who were continuously moving from one point to another in the bus.

Exercise has been said to improve our lives and help against about 25 diseases including Diabetes, Depression, Anxiety, Stress, Schizophrenia, Dementia, Parkinson's Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Type 1 and 2 Diabetes, and so on but how it does so and it the biological pathway at which it does it is still quite unknown as we cannot pinpoint everything happening in the body that makes exercise good for us. An NH-funded study recruited thousands of participants for exercise to reveal its impact at the molecular level and is still trying to understand it.

Exercise involves breaking down oxygen into Reactive Oxygen Species, potentially harmful to cells. However, it's counteracted by increased production of antioxidant enzymes like Glutathione and N-Acetylcysteine during exercise. Dopamine, Adrenaline, and Noradrenaline are released during exercise, reducing heart rate afterward and diminishing the stress hormone cortisol. Epigenetic modifications occur, influencing how DNA is expressed. Interestingly, the advent of exercise pills is on the horizon, offering an alternative for those less enamored with physical activity.

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Scientists at the Salk Institute fed two mice with high fat, high sugar diet under the same condition but were able to keep one of the mice lean and fit with shining coats without any form of exercise with a daily dose of a newly discovered drug GW501516. When this drug was given to mice that were allowed to exercise, it increased their endurance by 75%, reduced insulin resistance, reduced body fat, and changed muscle composition to slow switch fibers. The GW501516 or 516 for short, targets the PPAR-DELTA gene receptor boosting the signal to break down fat, causing fat to produce energy instead of carbs thereby increasing their endurance.

Another drug to know is compound-14 which was developed at the University of Southampton and tricks cells to think they are running out of energy and instead burn more energy. Another discovery is the introduction of lac-phe to mice which is burned from lactate during exercise. The mice reduced their food by half and were able to burn fat without expending energy or moving excessively.

The concept of exercise pills raises questions. Would replacing exercise with pills be prudent, or might it give rise to unforeseen consequences like cardiac issues? As science delves into this realm, the discussion extends to the evolving landscape of health and well-being

Tired of Exercising, Science is Coming to your Rescue

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