Why does exercise improve health?
Regular physical activity is essential to stay healthy, maintain adequate body weight, and prevent certain diseases. World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that adults get at least 30 minutes of physical activity daily, varying in intensity, depending on their age and physical condition. The general population is becoming sedentary, especially children and youth, who devote most of their free time to video games and social media, with little interest in healthy physical activity.
Over the past decades, epidemiological data and clinical experience have widely demonstrated that brisk walking for one hour, five days a week, increases survival by approximately four to five years compared with sedentary individuals; In addition, it provides better protection against infections and a lower incidence (10 percent) of cardiovascular disease and/or mortality.American College of Cardiology) and other chronic pathologies – type 2 diabetes mellitus, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, inflammatory bowel diseases, as well as faster recovery of damaged tissues.
When we wonder about the reasons for these apparent “biological rewards,” we are surprised by the scientific lack of knowledge about the molecular mechanisms and biological processes that occur inside cells during and after exercise. Recently, part of this exercise-induced biological mystery is beginning to be revealed. According to Dr. Daphne Bar-Sagi, renowned cell biologist and cancer researcher in New York University School of Medicine“We know that exercise is beneficial, but there is still a big gap in understanding how it affects our cells.“
Various groups of scientists are trying to decipher the complex network of molecular processes that restore and maintain cellular health, release powerful anti-inflammatory substances, and slow the natural effects of aging through simple daily physical activity. Some cells have been found to secrete signaling molecules that convey biological messages from one organ to another, such as the brain, heart and blood vessels, immune system or digestive system.
Current scientific research considers these molecular biology projects to be of great interest due to their significant improvements in health, slowing aging, or their future importance in the treatment of certain chronic diseases. Recent discoveries about the adaptive stress response to exercise and the regulation of its immune and metabolic pathways have surprised scientists.
The path to a sedentary lifestyle
After their appearance on Earth, humans had to remain in perfect physical condition to survive as nomads, as this forced them to constantly search for food, walk long distances, carry heavy loads, build shelters for protection from inclement weather, and face numerous dangers. and protect your family in such a hostile open environment.
About 10,000 years ago there was a radical transformation in the way of life of mankind, called Neolithic Revolution, which marked the transition from a nomadic lifestyle to a more secure and sedentary lifestyle dependent on agriculture and livestock raising. This major transition to a more predictable and relaxed lifestyle has brought about several changes in the human body. While constant and intense physical exercise required a large expenditure of energy due to nomadism, a progressive sedentary lifestyle meant that excess energy consumed was stored in the body tissues – as fat – with known harmful consequences for the human body.
A powerful army of exerkin
Danish scientist Bente Klarlund Pedersen, director Center for Physical Activity Research and Center for Inflammation and Metabolism from Copenhagen, and his team collected blood samples from athletes before and after participating in the marathon and discovered several molecules of the immune system –cytokines- which increased immediately after exercise, and remained very high for some until four hours after the end of the sporting event. Of these molecules interleukin-6 (IL-6), a protein that is activated in the human body’s response to defend against infection, we did not know that it is also released when muscles contract during exercise, so it was included in group s.exercises is a term used for molecules produced in response to physical activity. The presence of high levels of IL-6 can have both beneficial and harmful effects on the body. If during rest, a high amount of IL-6 in the blood has a powerful inflammatory effect, which is observed in obesity and uncontrolled type 2 diabetes, then during exercise it causes a chain activation of other cytokines of its family, for example IL-10. and IL-1ra, which counteract this harmful inflammatory effect, providing a very potent immediate anti-inflammatory effect.
https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01200-7
The human body has learned to benefit from fundamentally stressful processes such as exercise that can damage cells, triggering a cascade of cellular processes that work together to reverse these harmful effects. Among the protective molecules in this arsenal of cellular maintenance and repair are PGC-1α protein regulates skeletal muscle genes and NRF2 protein which activates genes encoding antioxidant and anti-inflammatory enzymes.
During prolonged exercise, distant organs and tissues communicate with each other through molecular signals transmitted extracellular vesicles in the form of bubbles. Exercise physiologist Mark Febbraio and his team Monash University from Melbourne, Australia, found significant increases in the levels of more than 300 types of proteins in the blood of athletes during and after exercise training, confirming that exercise modifies most of the physiological mechanisms typical of the resting state.
Inside the cells there is a real energy machine room –mitochondria– which provides fuel to the entire body, ensuring its survival. During the exercise, this power plant should significantly increase the production of biological fuel that converts nucleotides adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in adenosine diphosphate (ADP), from metabolic products – glucose, fatty acids and amino acids. During intense exercise, molecular byproducts or reactive oxygen species (ROS) (from English, reactive oxygen species), which can damage proteins, lipids and DNA itself. However, other protective biological processes are triggered that strengthen the defense by effectively eliminating these harmful byproducts (ROS).
Ohmic technologies
The emergence of new omics technologies –genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metagenomics, metatranscriptomics and metabolomics– brought with him amazing advances in the field of biotechnology, molecular biology of health and disease.
Given the paucity of information on the molecular basis of the various physiological adaptations induced by exercise training, it has been recognized that it is necessary to resort to omics technologies to create molecular map integrity of the human body. The US government allocated $170 million to the NIH. National Institutes of Health) for this important research project, creating the so-called Physical Activity Molecular Transducers Consortium (MTrPAC) Physical Activity Molecular Transducers Consortium), which aims to discover how exercise improves and maintains the health of the body’s tissues and organs at the molecular level. Some surprising discoveries are beginning to be made about how exercise triggers a complex and organized choreography of biological processes such as energy metabolism, oxidative stress and inflammation. Creating this catalog of exercise molecules is the first step in understanding their effects on the body. To date, this team of researchers has used multi-ohm profiles of more than 17,000 molecules and found that more than half of them showed significant changes with exercise. In particular, the adaptive response to tissue stress, modifications of skeletal muscle, changes in adipose tissue, changes in blood cells, protective response of immune pathways, or activation of new metabolic pathways induced by exercise are studied.
https://motrpac-data.org/
Recent discoveries show that after exercise, liver cells produce several types carboxylesterase enzymes accelerating metabolism without increasing body weight. These enzymes are organic protein molecules that increase the rate of organic chemical reactions.metabolism-. Until now, it was unknown that exercise stimulates the production of these enzymes, which, if they can be produced with sufficient chemical purity, can be used as exercise-mimicking supplements.
This molecular map It will contain molecular signals that occur during physical activity and their modifications depending on gender, age, body type and physical condition. This exciting program will provide an important and easy-to-use database for clinicians and researchers interested in the mechanisms responsible for physical activity to improve or maintain health, prevent certain diseases, and reduce the effects of natural aging.
“We need to understand how all these molecules work, because a person is a homeostatic machine that needs to be adjusted correctly.” says Dr. Michael Snyder, a geneticist from Stanford University in California (USA).
The more knowledge about this”molecular mystery» will enable the production of new drugs that attempt to mimic the beneficial effects of exercise, especially for patients with exercise limitations, or enhance their health effects. We believe that the latter does not lead to increased sedentary behavior in healthy individuals due to consumption of “pills that simulate exercise without leaving your seat“
When science unravels this complex tangle of many molecules associated with exercise practice, it will offer us greater protection against disease and, ultimately, healthier, longer lives.
“Exercise is the key to physical and mental health”
Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) was a South African lawyer, politician and activist.
President of the Republic of South Africa (1994), Prince of Asturias Award (1992) and
Nobel Peace Prize (1993)
Jose Manuel Revuelta Soba
Professor of Surgery. Professor Emeritus of the University of Cantabria