{"id":813,"date":"2017-12-23T10:00:14","date_gmt":"2017-12-23T10:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/?p=813"},"modified":"2018-10-19T00:11:08","modified_gmt":"2018-10-19T00:11:08","slug":"813","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/2017\/12\/23\/813\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Activity Important?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve all heard that physical activity is important\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just how important is moving?<\/strong><\/p>\n

VERY.<\/em><\/p>\n

Specifically, how important is it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The general idea for why all of healthcare focuses so much on physical activity because the more active a person is, the more resilient the body will become.\u00a0 This doesn\u2019t simply apply to the physical body, this applies to, everything.\u00a0 Mental stress is relieved from physical activity, blood flow increases to areas that require healing, muscles and bones become resilient to damage, and body composition can more easily be maintained.\u00a0 All of these effects come from maintaining a moderate level of activity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So what is meant by the term \u201cphysical activity\u201d?\u00a0 Ideally, any kind of activity that causes you to increase your rate of breathing, increase your heart rate and physically tires you out.\u00a0 This can be sport related, physical labor (landscaping, home remodeling, etc), as well as any kind of activity above and beyond your standard requirements for life.\u00a0 For instance, if you are a stay at home parent, and typically do 5,000 steps a day while maintaining the house and doing any kind of child care, an \u201cincrease in physical activity\u201d would be above and beyond the 5,000 steps you\u2019re already doing.\u00a0 It\u2019s very important for the body (both mind and physical body) to have self-driven activity that is physically exhausting.<\/p>\n

If activity is important, how much activity is important?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is consistent research posted about the importance of maintaining a regular level of cardiovascular activity (exercise).\u00a0 The particular article referenced here<\/a>, cited exercise in terms of a \u201cMET\u201d or metabolic equivalent. So, what is a \u201cMET\u201d?\u00a0 1 MET, is approximately 1000 Calories per week of activity.<\/p>\n

For reference:
\nSlow walking (2 mph) for 20 minutes burns around 86 Calories.
\nFast walk (4mph) for 20 minutes burns approximately 160 Calories.<\/p>\n

In this case, 1 MET of exercise would be walking 4 mph for 20 minutes, 7 days a week.\u00a0 This would account for approximately 1120 Calories burned in one week.<\/p>\n

This term is used to standardize the level of calories burned for all exercises, to better compare and research exercises effects on overall health.<\/p>\n

The \u201cgold standard\u201d of measuring levels of activity, is to assess how much oxygen the body is using.\u00a0 This is the \u201cgold standard\u201d because oxygen is the fuel that drives our body\u2019s ability to function.\u00a0 In high tech research facilities, athletes can be connected to machines that can monitor how much oxygen goes in and out of the body during exercise.\u00a0 By comparing the amounts, you can determine how many calories were burned, via complicated math.\u00a0 This measurement is the BEST, but it is also very time consuming and requires a lot of expensive equipment.\u00a0 By calculating METs, we can have a \u201cgood enough\u201d approximation, without all the expensive work required to measure VO2 Max.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(VO2 Max testing shown here)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In terms of importance of health, 2-3 METs per week of activity was correlated with 2-5x decrease in heart disease AND 2-5x decrease in all-cause mortality as compared to 0 MET (sedentary) living. This means not only are your risk of heart related conditions decreases 200-500%, but it also decreases your risk of any kind of serious health related problem.<\/p>\n

In easier terms, walking at a fast pace, for an hour, every day, has the potential for lowering your risk of health-related death by 500%!<\/strong><\/p>\n

This benefit is further increased for women who, if they maintain a level of physical activity, every MET of activity adds another 17% decrease in mortality!<\/p>\n

You read that correctly.\u00a0 For week that engage in a fast walk for only an hour a day, there is a 5-fold decrease in your risk of health-related death.<\/p>\n

While I reference walking, this qualifies for any level of physical activity, as long as it is above and beyond 1,000 Calories of activity.\u00a0 Any tiring exercise that raises the heart rate and is maintained for a length of time, will be beneficial to one\u2019s health.\u00a0 Increased activity levels have shown to increase immune resistance, decrease body weight and increase mood promoting hormones.\u00a0 Keep in mind, these benefits can be gained from as little as 1-2 METs of activity.<\/p>\n

The largest benefit and health protection comes in at the 8-10 MET level.\u00a0 While this level seems remarkably high to most people, this is the level at which the most health benefit is obtained.\u00a0 MET levels less than 5 have a higher risk of CVD and all-cause mortality.\u00a0 However, the largest increase in benefit comes between the lowest level, compared to the 2nd<\/sup> lowest level.\u00a0 Increasing your activity from 0 extra Calories burned, to burning 1-2 thousand Calories per week increases your potential health significantly from a moderately poor outlook, to a mildly good outlook.<\/p>\n

Why does activity have to be tiring?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s two major reasons for regularly physically exhausting one\u2019s self.\u00a0 The first and foremost, the muscle of the body requires constant use.\u00a0 We have muscle, we can\u2019t just neglect it.\u00a0 The more muscular definition is neglected, the more difficulty the body has to operate.\u00a0 As jobs become more and more sedentary in the US, movement needs to be increased.\u00a0 As muscles are forced to exert more and more force, the tissues around them are forced to contract and slide.\u00a0 This increased activity prevents the muscles from adhering together.\u00a0 This keeps the muscles loose and pliable as well as allows the joint to move freely when needed.<\/p>\n

The second reason is the related to the how body fat exists in the body.\u00a0 When we increase our energy levels, the cells that produce energy (called mitochondria) increase in activity.\u00a0 If this new higher energy demand is maintained, the body is required to produce more mitochondria, thus making the body more energy on a regular basis.\u00a0 (You\u2019ll feel less tired from the same level of activity)\u00a0 The main benefit here, is related to how mitochondria produce energy.\u00a0 We discussed body fat once before<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(These fats)<\/em><\/p>\n

See all those -C-\u2018s in the middle? Those are carbon atoms.\u00a0 Once the body starts breaking these large fat molecules into smaller pieces, those carbon molecules have to go somewhere.\u00a0 The place they go, is out through the lungs via CO2<\/sub>.\u00a0 90% of body weight lost, is lost as CO2<\/sub>.\u00a0 The rest of the Hs and Os are combined and used as water within the body.<\/p>\n

Need further proof?<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/sub><\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThis big complicated picture is how the human body produces energy from sugar.\u00a0 Body fat is converted to a similar form via the process known as gluconeogenesis, and processed accordingly.\u00a0 See all the H2<\/sub>O and CO2<\/sub>?<\/p>\n

H2<\/sub>O is used to further break down other fat molecules via a process known as hydrolysis, and CO2<\/sub> is created every time a carbon molecule is broken from the main molecule.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source: Ross, R., Blair, S. N., Arena, R., Church, T. S., Despr\u00e9s, J., Franklin, B. A., . . . Wisl\u00f8ff, U. (2016). Importance of Assessing Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Clinical Practice: A Case for Fitness as a Clinical Vital Sign: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association. Circulation,<\/em> 134<\/em>(24). doi:10.1161\/cir.0000000000000461<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve all heard that physical activity is important\u2026 Just how important is moving? VERY. Specifically, how important is it? The general idea for why all of healthcare focuses so much on physical activity because the more active a person is,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nIs Activity Important? - Chiropractor in Amherst, NY<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/2017\/12\/23\/813\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Activity Important? - Chiropractor in Amherst, NY\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We\u2019ve all heard that physical activity is important\u2026 Just how important is moving? VERY. Specifically, how important is it? The general idea for why all of healthcare focuses so much on physical activity because the more active a person is,…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/2017\/12\/23\/813\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Chiropractor in Amherst, NY\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-23T10:00:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-10-19T00:11:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Screen-Shot-2017-11-25-at-12.47.45-PM.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/2017\/12\/23\/813\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/2017\/12\/23\/813\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Is Activity Important?\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-23T10:00:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-10-19T00:11:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/2017\/12\/23\/813\/\"},\"wordCount\":1172,\"commentCount\":2375,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/2017\/12\/23\/813\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/2017\/12\/23\/813\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/2017\/12\/23\/813\/\",\"name\":\"Is Activity Important? - Chiropractor in Amherst, NY\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-23T10:00:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-10-19T00:11:08+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/2017\/12\/23\/813\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/2017\/12\/23\/813\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/2017\/12\/23\/813\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is Activity Important?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/\",\"name\":\"Chiropractor in Amherst, NY\",\"description\":\"Dr. Christopher J. Herrington\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Chiropractor in Amherst, NY\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/herrington-family-chiropractic.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/herrington-family-chiropractic.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":117,\"caption\":\"Chiropractor in Amherst, NY\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is Activity Important? - Chiropractor in Amherst, NY","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/2017\/12\/23\/813\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is Activity Important? - Chiropractor in Amherst, NY","og_description":"We\u2019ve all heard that physical activity is important\u2026 Just how important is moving? VERY. Specifically, how important is it? The general idea for why all of healthcare focuses so much on physical activity because the more active a person is,…","og_url":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/2017\/12\/23\/813\/","og_site_name":"Chiropractor in Amherst, NY","article_published_time":"2017-12-23T10:00:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-10-19T00:11:08+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Screen-Shot-2017-11-25-at-12.47.45-PM.png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/2017\/12\/23\/813\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/2017\/12\/23\/813\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Is Activity Important?","datePublished":"2017-12-23T10:00:14+00:00","dateModified":"2018-10-19T00:11:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/2017\/12\/23\/813\/"},"wordCount":1172,"commentCount":2375,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["blog"],"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/2017\/12\/23\/813\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/2017\/12\/23\/813\/","url":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/2017\/12\/23\/813\/","name":"Is Activity Important? - Chiropractor in Amherst, NY","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-12-23T10:00:14+00:00","dateModified":"2018-10-19T00:11:08+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/2017\/12\/23\/813\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/2017\/12\/23\/813\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/2017\/12\/23\/813\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is Activity Important?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/","name":"Chiropractor in Amherst, NY","description":"Dr. Christopher J. Herrington","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/#organization","name":"Chiropractor in Amherst, NY","url":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/herrington-family-chiropractic.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/herrington-family-chiropractic.png","width":300,"height":117,"caption":"Chiropractor in Amherst, NY"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buffalodc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}