[Paleopsych] BH: Even Two Days Inactivity May Be Unhealthy

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Even Two Days Inactivity May Be Unhealthy
http://www.betterhumans.com/Print/index.aspx?ArticleID=2005-01-19-5

Lack of exercise appears to quickly decrease insulin sensitivity, a possible
precursor to diabetes

    Betterhumans Staff
    1/19/2005 2:52 PM

    As little as two days physical inactivity appears to decrease the
    body's efficient use of insulin, a possible precursor to diabetes and
    related diseases.

    Professor [8]Frank Booth and doctoral student David Kump of the
    [9]University of Missouri-Columbia made the discovery by simulating a
    sudden drop in activity in rats.

    The researchers allowed the rats to run on an exercise wheel for three
    weeks and then locked the wheel for two days.
    They found that [10]insulin sensitivity decreased the longer the rats
    stayed inactive.

    "Everyone is looking at the benefits of exercise, but we are looking
    at the consequences of stopping that exercise," says Kump. "People
    already know that exercise is good for them. This shows that within a
    very short time frame of inactivity, the insulin does not work as well
    and might have negative effects."

    Increased risk

    Decreased insulin sensitivity is thought to put people at greater risk
    of such conditions as diabetes, heart disease, obesity and
    hypertension.

    Insulin moves sugar from the blood into muscles for energy. In people
    who are active, this process and the process of turning the sugar into
    energy is more efficient. In people who are inactive, less so.

    But what about people who are active and then take a break?

    The researchers found that, at least in rats, just two days of
    inactivity causes the amount of sugar taken into muscles in response
    to insulin to be reduced by about a third.

    Booth says that the research shows that such changes can occur earlier
    than thought.

    The research is reported in the [11]Journal of the Physiological
    Society ([12]read abstract).

References

    8. http://www.cvm.missouri.edu/vbms/faculty/booth.html
    9. http://www.missouri.edu/
   10. http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin
   11. http://jp.physoc.org/
   12. http://jp.physoc.org/cgi/content/abstract/jphysiol.2004.073593v1