4 Health Benefits of Building Muscles
- Kota Shimada
- Oct 30, 2021
- 3 min read
Exercise has become such an important part of our lifestyle. Everywhere you go, everywhere you look, there is always an advertisement and information about how to exercise for better health, looks and strength. In this article I will be sharing why building muscle is such an important thing not just for our looks but for our health.
There are so many benefits in exercising or stimulating the muscles. Some of them are obvious like looks good, feel better, and getting stronger. There are other benefits that are not spoken frequently, however, very critical to recognized and understand why we need to exercise on regular basis. Key component of the following benefits is production of myokines, which are hormones secreted by muscles when stimulated by exercising.
First benefit is increase in immune system (1). When exercising at high intensity and long duration can lead to decline in lymphocytes but increase in neutrophils. Lymphocytes and neutrophils are both a type of white blood cells which they fight against virus, bacteria, fungi, infections and help heal wounds. In other words when muscles are not being exercised, it is possible for our immune system to be compromised. This is typically seen in people who are obese or elder population who does not participate in physical activities which can lead to loss of muscle mass and strength. Opposite is also true. Those who have been participated in physical activities, regardless of their age, they tend to have stronger immune system and can recover from injury and illnesses faster.
Second benefit is increase in anti-inflammatory response (2). Lack of exercise and obesity are leading cause of low level of inflammation. Therefore, when you exercise on regular basis and adapting to training can promote anti-inflammatory effect and lead to reducing abdominal or visceral fat. Abdominal or visceral fat increase can be leading to cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and dementia to name the few.
Third benefit is conversion of white fat cells to brown fat cells (3). We all have both white and brown fat cells in our body. Brown fat cells has more mitochondria and has higher metabolic rate compared with white fat. Therefore, brown fat can actively utilize energy whereas white fat cells can be only used while insulin level is low. Presence of brown fat can be seen more in infants and number can decrease as human mature in age which makes harder for elder population to metabolize fat. However, exercising seem to promote browning of the white fat cells by secretion of myokines which is hormone secreted by muscles especially during the exercise. This does not mean that the white fat cells permanently turn into brown fat cells, however, white cells start acting like brown fat cells and used or wasted as energy or heat which also means increase in metabolism.
Fourth benefit is brain health (4). Knowingly or unknowingly, majority of success people participate in some sort of physical activities, such as weightlifting, running, organized sports, hiking, and so on. There are studies done to demonstrate the volume of hippocampus increase after 3 months of exercising. Hippocampus is responsible for learning and memory.
While exercising, muscles produce myokines which plays important role in regulating immune system, inflammation, and metabolism. Therefore, exercise training to promote a production of myokines can be strategy to promote anti-inflammatory and metabolism improvement, which can potentially reduce a risk of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and other chronic diseases.
Exercising and building muscle is more than just to improve our looks and strength. It is vital organ that supports so many different functions in our body. With COVID-19 and other new viruses that we may encounter in future, importance of exercising the muscles is needed to be addressed to protect ourselves.
Kota Shimada
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