On gaining stamina after being sedentary-- a NASA study

[carolm]

I wanted to share a book that I’ve been reading, called Sitting Kills, Moving Heals. The author is Joan Vernikos, PhD., the Life Sciences director for NASA. Her book parallels the muscle and bone loss that astronauts experience in weightlessness to the physical decline experienced by people who are ill and sedentary, and to what occurs as part of the aging process. Better yet she outlines how to correct the adverse effects. And it’s not what I thought. I expected to hear more about building muscle and boosting metabolism. Instead she said the way to get back to functioning is to do the activities of daily living, just more of it.

She discussed how something as simple as standing up several times a day makes our bodies adjust internally—adjusts blood pressure, heart rate, blood flow to the brain, and equilibrium. If you are sedentary standing up 30 times gives your body adequate time to practice adjusting. If you stand once and stay standing for 30 minutes, it doesn’t get the same amount of practice and isn’t as beneficial. So any activity that makes you change position—like cooking from scratch, where you are bending reaching down or having to reach up to get a bowl off a high shelf—plus stirring ingredients, working across the midline of your body, again uses your neurological system and gives it practice at re-setting itself. The other activities she mentioned as crucial were any for balance and flexibility. Bouncing on a mini trampoline, yoga or Tai Chi, or even jumping jacks—requires coordination and uses gravity as resistance or simply adding a hop at the end of any movement or exercise you are doing.
She said even an illness that has you in bed for 4-5 days starts the process of losing muscle and bone mass, although it’s easier to get back since you were sedentary a short amount of time. So it makes sense that those of us who have had to spend the majority of our days lying down when in our biggest flare, would suffer the same muscle and bone loss, and our balance and equilibrium would be 'out of practice'.

In case you are wondering they ruled out that age is not a factor in bone and muscle loss. When John Glenn went to space at the age of 77 and the other astronauts were between ages of 35-45, the outcome was that he did not lose the most muscle and bone mass. A 37 year old astronaut lost the most. John Glenn lost no more or no less than the other astronauts. So the conclusion was that muscle and bone loss were due to weightlessness and age was not a factor.

I haven’t figured out how I’ll in corporate this yet but it’s good to know that we can get back to (or closer to) where we want to be by just doing more of the same.

Keep moving,

Carol

[tex]

Carol,

Interesting topic. I think that part of my problem is that some days, I get most of my exercise from eating, which qualifies as an activity of daily living, but it's probably not an ideal way to get exercise.

I can't help but wonder if the 37 year old astronaut who lost the most muscle and bone mass will someday be diagnosed with celiac disease.

Thanks for sharing.

Tex

[DebE13]

Thanks Carol, I've found myself quite concerned with this issue as I've become increasingly sedentary and sometimes feel like I'm going to loose my mind because even as I lay on the couch my mind keeps wandering off to all the activities I'm missing out on. It's almost like I'm being held hostage inside my body.

[JLH]

Thanks from a computer addict...........

[Leah]

Stand up and sit down thirty times? Sounds like squats to me ! :)

[carolm]

Hi all, Thanks for the comments.

I am excited at the prospect of looking at fitness from this perspective-- like an 'internal view' of fitness. I thought I'd elaborate a few more details of her research.

In a research study she conducted she found that people who were sedentary/bed bound for less than 30 days usually took 1 day to recover for every day they were laid up. However when people were sedentary/bed bound for over 30 days it took them 2.5 times as long to recover their strength. I think this could explain why some of us have had a tougher time of it than others.

The author makes the distinction between 'mobilizer' muscles and 'stabilizers'. Mobilizers are the larger muscles that cause us to move and the ones that get worked when we go to the gym. She states that it is the stabilizers that we need to be paying attention to. These are the ones that keep our spine upright, keep our neck able to hold up our head, and in the long run keep us able to be self-sufficient when we are elderly by maintaining our equilibrium. In her research, gym workouts won't touch the stabilizers. They are reached by activities that utilize gravity as it's resistance to increase your equilibrium and balance. Think about gardening-- you are on your knees, bending over, reach out to pull weeds, keeping your balance, knowing where your body is in space and how much pull to give, then you move to the side or decide to get a tool so you stand up-- stabilizer muscles make this possible. Movement keeps them sending and receiving messages. Sitting or lying down does not (driving counts as sitting btw).

I'll still work my weights too just because I want the toning and upper body strength, but I've decided to increase my yoga workouts to give myself a structured way of changing positions here in the beginning, and just be more mindful of moving, especially when I 'm at work and it's a day I'm doing a lot of computer work. I'll make sure I stand up at regular intervals.

[carolm]

Leah, they could be like squats just not done in rapid succession but spread out over the course of the day. And not deep. You get the idea.

I'll probably keep doing the regular squats too. Hate doing them but I like the results.

C.