Issue in the DC

Issues

A common topic in my discourse community are the beneficial health effects of exercise on almost every part and aspect of your body. The experts discussing this topic are scientists and doctors from several different fields and specializations whether that be neuroscience, exercise physiology or cardiology. Many have done research and headed or participated in experiments to test the many hypotheses about the rejuvenating effects of physical activity including Doctor James Shaffrath of the University of California, Davis. He is a Doctor and Professor of Clinical Exercise Physiology. Having been my professor in Exercise Biology, I had the opportunity to talk to him about these issues. The fact is “Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death in the United States” (Dr. Shaffrath). Most of the diseases are related to plaque buildup in the walls of the arteries and arterial damage that can severely increate the risk of a cardiac event. In order to protect the heart and its arteries controlling certain risk factors that are directly correlated to cardiac damage is key. Some of the most important ones are cholesterol levels, blood pressure, glucose levels, HDL/LDL levels etc.

This is where the issue arises: there is an increased talk about the development of a polypill containing several different medications designed to control the previously mentioned risk factors. Some experts in the field even hypothesized that CVD could be reduced by 88% and strokes by 80% if all people over the age of 55 were given this polypill. On the other hand, part of my discourse community find it controversial to medicalize the population and risk potential pharmacological side effects especially when polypill like benefits are very much possible with a drug free intervention: Physical Activity. Many cardiovascular diseases are actually related to inactivity and they are in fact called hypokinetic diseases, “hypo”, meaning “low” and “kinetic”, meaning “movement. The stance on this topic that is valued among my discourse community is that consistent physical activity throughout life is basically a key to a longer, healthier and more enjoyable life. More and more experiments, are showing astonishing results in terms of cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment. More importantly these studies are showing that physical activity has as good if not better health effects than that of the best drug interventions all while being much more affordable and eliminating potential side effects.

This issue has implications for every person in every age group. Cardiovascular diseases are still the number one killer in the United States. So figuring out which treatment/preventative measure is most effective, efficient and cheap is important for the health of the future generations and reduction of morbidity in our increasingly aging population. It simply does not matter if you are a member of this community or not, all our bodies physiologically function the same way and therefore so it is not like some people are particularly less susceptible to this deadly group of diseases. Unfortunately, some disagree with the idea that exercise is the ideal treatment because of the high stakes in pharmaceutical businesses. Business is more important to some large companies, as we have seen recently with the drastic increases for the lifesaving hormone called insulin. So to companies like these, a cheap, non-controllable, preventive treatment and cure like exercise is a direct threat to their business. Studies demonstrating the power of physical activity must keep taking place in order to further expose people to its effects. When I asked Dr. Shaffrath what he thought was the better solution and why, he responded by explaining that yes, we are modern humans, but our design and physiology today still has bases originating from our earliest ancestors who had to exercise and fight every day for those scraps of food. We are essentially designed to exercise more than not. If we use and treat our own bodies exactly how they were physiologically designed to work, they, for the most part will not fell us (Dr. Shaffrath). He added that the substances your working muscles release literally have the same if not better effects on risk factors like BP, or Glucose levels and its natural. Although he agrees exercise is the best solution, he definitely understands the importance of pharmaceuticals. Sometimes, he explained, people reach a point where it is actually unsafe for them to work out immediately as their heart is already at risk due to the amount of time it was left untreated. So medication is a good way to start the process of healing or bring it back to a more stable range

Resources:

• Suzuki, Wendy. “Transcript of ‘The Brain-Changing Benefits of Exercise.’” TED, www.ted.com/talks/wendy_suzuki_the_brain_changing_benefits_of_exercise/transcript#t-620087

The above citation is a TED talk by a professor of Neuroscience named Wendy Suzuki. In her TED talk Suzuki talks about the powerful effects of physical activity on the human brain. She studied a lot of the literature related to this and even unintentionally conducted an experiment on herself. As she discovered more and more about the benefits, she decided to completely shift her research focus. Physical activity has immediate effects on our brains. If we continuously workout, those effects become long lasting. Physical activity has positive effects on our mood, focus, and memory. This literally means that working out also has protective properties for our brain. Working out almost magically makes the parts of our brains that is most susceptible to neurodegenerative diseases more robust and resistant to those diseases. Suzuki even claims that 30-minute exercise sessions 3 to 4 times a week is actually enough to get these benefits as well.

• Booth, Frank W., et al. “Lack of Exercise Is a Major Cause of Chronic Diseases.” Comprehensive Physiology, 2012, doi:10.1002/cphy.c110025

In this article, Frank W. Booth and his colleagues explore what seems to be an almost guaranteed ticket to acquiring the main chronic diseases of our era: physical inactivity. “three millennia of evidence” (Booth et al, 2012) exists clearly showing us that physical inactivity is detrimental to health. They explain that physical inactivity is harmful because it reduces the overall proper function of most organ systems in humans and even other mammals.  Booth and his colleagues claim and explain in their article how exercise is found to be the main prevention against 35 chronic conditions: [Accelerated biological aging/premature death, low cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2max), sarcopenia, metabolic syndrome, obesity, insulin resistance, prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, coronary heart disease, peripheral artery disease, hypertension, stroke, congestive heart failure, endothelial dysfunction, arterial dyslipidemia, hemostasis, deep vein thrombosis, cognitive dysfunction, depression and anxiety, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, balance, bone fracture/falls, rheumatoid arthritis, colon cancer, breast cancer, endometrial cancer, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, polycystic ovary syndrome, erectile dysfunction, pain, diverticulitis, constipation, and gallbladder diseases]. At the end of the day, humans are simply not adapted to not be physically active.

• Raimondo, Domenico Di, et al. “New Insights about the Putative Role of Myokines in the Context of Cardiac Rehabilitation and Secondary Cardiovascular Prevention.” Annals of Translational Medicine, vol. 5, no. 15, 2017, pp. 300–300., doi:10.21037/atm.2017.07.30.

This article explores the role of the substance released by exercising muscles on cardiovascular disease prevention. Apparently the protective effects of physical activity could also be caused by the secretion of muscular myokines. These myokines supposedly trigger various metabolic pathways in pretty much all our organs.