Did you know...
By now it is well known that doing a physical activity is healthy for our physical and mental wellness. Several studies have found out countless benefits that are linked to a motory activity, even mild, but regular.
An interesting fact has emerged in the last years and it refers to the rapidity with which you lose the benefits related to physical activity if this is interrupted even for few weeks: move it or lose it!
Let's give a look to some examples that were given us by some scientific researches which examined athletes of specific sports:
- some studies have hypothesised that gymnastics can help to compensate the memory loss related to the age: a recent study published on Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience has showed that an interruption of the physical activity for about ten days of a group of runners got to a decrease of the blood flow to hippocampus, the part of the brain connected to memory and emotions.
- it was found that after only two weeks of inactivity there is a considerable reduction of VO2Max( maximum oxygen volme consumed by a person in a minute): this reduction equivalent to about 10% causes a reduction in endurance( short breath) and it can increase to 15% after three weeks and to 20% after three months. to contrast this phenomenon you should just be a little active, being able to limit the VO2Max reduction considerably.
- inactivity, moreover, can cause an increase of blood pressure and blood glucose levels: a recent study which was published in 2015 on Journal of Applied Physiologyh has pointed out that a group of people that had trained for eight months with endurance and aerobic exercises had had improvements in the blood glucose levels but these had increased again after just two weeks of inactivity.
- inactivity causes an increase of body fat: a study of 2012 on a group odf swimmers underlined that after 5 week inactivity had increased their body lean mass of 12%, they gained body weight and waistline. This happened even if they were not completely "inactive".
Similar results were found out in a group of Taekowondo athletes who after a stop of eight weeks, saw their body fat levels increased and their body lean mass diminished.
Good training!