Energy Management
Physical activity has positive benefits to our body with obvious external results, but how does it affect our body's internal processes?
Regardless if you are walking, sprinting, or doing chores your muscles require energy to power these actions. This energy comes in the form of ATP. ATP is generated from the food we eat, which is transported to our cells via our cardiovascular system.
Energy Management
When you exercise your body undergoes a number of different adaptations to maintain equilibrium. Your muscles burn through their ATP reserves and you go into a state of energy deprivation. In order to replenish the depleted supplies, your body mobilizes sugar and lipid supplies. Your body releases glucagon to break down glucose in the form of glucagon which is stored in the liver and muscle cells. Your body also increases insulin production to allow the uptake of glucose into the cell. Another important factor about energy transport is the transporter, AKA blood. During exercise, our body accommodates this increased need for nutrients by increasing blood flow to the body to deliver oxygen, glucose, and fatty acids to the rest of the body. Your blood vessels do this by increasing in size, also known as vasodilation.
How does exercise affect the body?
Deficiencies of energy management
What happens when these internal processes don't function like they are supposed to? As mentioned glycolysis is the process of breaking down glucose to make energy and other metabolites. In the case of Diabetes, our bodies aren't able to transport glucose into the cell to make ATP. In Type 2 Diabetes our cells are highly resistant to the hormone responsible for transporting glucose into the cell, insulin. Regular exercise has shown to increase the insulin sensitivity of the cells.
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Hypertension is when the pressure inside of arteries is high, which leads to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. Blood pressure after an exercise session has shown to be lowered by 5-7mmHg, and after endurance exercise, this slight decrement has shown to stay for 22 hours after exercise. How does exercise combat hypertension? As we saw earlier, the body adapts to exercise to allow our body to transport more glucose to our cells. One of these adaptations is vasodilation, or the ability to widen our blood vessels. Due to this increase in area in the artery, there is not as much pressure inside the artery, which leads to lower blood pressure.
