If anyone asked if I get enough exercise, my answer would be unequivocal: Yes, I make a point of carving out time to sweat, get my heart pumping and move around. I probably would not mention that I prefer to drive the half mile to pick up my coffee instead of taking a 15-minute walk. Or that using the drive thru sounds infinitely more appealing than actually getting out of my car. Or that you’d rarely spot me choosing to trudge up the stairs at the end of the day.
None of these shortcuts on their own feel like that a big deal. After all, I worked out today, right? But added up these are slowly sapping a sometimes overlooked source of metabolic health. It’s a concept that goes by the name non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or NEAT, for short. This is essentially all the calories that a person burns through their daily activity excluding purposeful physical exercise.
Think of the low-effort movements that you string together over the course of your day – things like household chores, strolling through the grocery aisle, climbing the stairs, bobbing your leg up and down at your desk, or cooking dinner. “The fact there’s so many things in part explains why it’s so difficult to study, because how on earth do you measure everything?” says Dr. James Levine, an endocrinologist who pioneered research on NEAT while at the Mayo Clinic and now heads the nonprofit Foundation Ipsen……Continue reading….
Depending on whether or not they are initiated through locomotion and intentional movement of the muscles, thermogenic processes can be classified as one of the following:
Exercise-associated thermogenesis (EAT)
Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), energy expended for everything that is not sleeping, eating or sports-like exercise.
One method to raise temperature is through shivering. It produces heat because the conversion of the chemical energy of ATP into kinetic energy causes almost all of the energy to show up as heat. Shivering is the process by which the body temperature of hibernating mammals (such as some bats and ground squirrels) is raised as these animals emerge from hibernation.
Non-shivering thermogenesis occurs in brown adipose tissue (brown fat)[3] that is present in almost all eutherians (swine being the only exception currently known). Brown adipose tissue has a unique uncoupling protein (thermogenin, also known as uncoupling protein 1) that allows the uncoupling of protons (H+) moving down their mitochondrial gradient from the synthesis of ATP, thus allowing the energy to be dissipated as heat.
The atomic structure of human uncoupling protein 1 UCP1 has been solved by cryogenic-electron microscopy. The structure has the typical fold of a member of the SLC25 family. UCP1 is locked in a cytoplasmic-open state by guanosine triphosphate in a pH-dependent manner, preventing proton leak.
In this process, substances such as free fatty acids (derived from triacylglycerols) remove purine (ADP, GDP and others) inhibition of thermogenin, which causes an influx of H+ into the matrix of the mitochondrion and bypasses the ATP synthase channel.
In a broader context, futile cycles can be influenced by activity/rest cycles such as the Summermatter cycle. Acetylcholine stimulates muscle to raise metabolic rate. The low demands of thermogenesis mean that free fatty acids draw, for the most part, on lipolysis as the method of energy production. A comprehensive list of human and mouse genes regulating cold-induced thermogenesis (CIT) in living animals (in vivo) or tissue samples (ex vivo) has been assembled and is available in CITGeneDB.
The second form of NST occurs in skeletal muscle. While eutherians use both BAT and skeletal muscle NST for thermogenesis, birds only use the latter form. This process has also been shown to occur in rare instances in fish. In skeletal muscle NST, Calcium ions slip across muscle cells to generate heat. Even though BAT NST was originally thought to be the only process by which animals could maintain endothermy, scientists now suspect that skeletal muscle NST was the original form of the process and that BAT NST developed later.
Though scientists once also believed that only birds maintained their body temperatures using skeletal muscle NST, research in the late 2010s showed that mammals and other eutherians also use this process when they do not have adequate stores of brown adipose tissue in their bodies. Skeletal muscle NST might also be used to maintain body temperature in heterothermic mammals during states of torpor or hibernation.
Given that early eutherians and the reptiles which later evolved into avian lineages were either heterothermic or ectothermic, both forms of NST are thought not to have developed fully until after the K-pg extinction roughly 66 million years ago. However, some estimates place the evolution of these characters earlier, at roughly 100 mya.
It is most likely that the process of evolving the capacity for thermogenesis as it currently exists was a process which began prior to the K-pg extinction and ended well after. The fact that skeletal muscle NST is common among eutherians during periods of torpor and hibernation further supports the theory that this form of thermogenesis is older than BAT NST.
This is because early eutherians would not have had the capacity for non-shivering thermogenesis as it currently exists, so they more frequently used torpor and hibernation as means of thermal regulation, relying on systems which, in theory, predate BAT NST. However, there remains no consensus among evolutionary biologists on the order in which the two processes evolved, nor an exact timeframe for their evolution.
While COVID-19’s effects on the lungs and respiratory system are well known, there is growing research suggesting that the virus is also affecting the heart, with potentially lasting effects.
In a presentation at the annual meeting of the Biophysical Society, an international biophysics scientific group, Dr. Andrew Marks, chair of the department of physiology at Columbia University, and his colleagues reported on changes in the heart tissue of COVID-19 patients who had died from the disease, some of whom also had a history of heart conditions.
The team conducted autopsy analyses and found a range of abnormalities, particularly in the way heart cells regulate calcium. All muscles, including those in the heart, rely on calcium to contract. Muscle cells store calcium and open special channels inside of cells to release it when needed. In some conditions such as heart failure, the channel remains open in a desperate attempt to help the heart muscle contract more actively.
The leaking of calcium ultimately depletes the calcium stores, weakening the muscle in the end. “We found evidence, in the hearts of COVID-19 patients, abnormalities in the way calcium is handled,” says Marks. In fact, when it came to their calcium systems, the heart tissue of these 10 people who had died of COVID-19 looked very similar to that of people with heart failure.
Marks plans to further explore the heart changes that SARS-CoV-2 might cause by studying how the infection affects the hearts of mice and hamsters. He intends to measure changes in immune cells as well as any alterations in heart function in the animals both while they are infected and after they have recovered in order to document any lingering effects.
“The data we present show that there are dramatic changes in the heart,” Marks says. “The precise cause and long term consequences of those need to be studied more.” Previous studies have revealed a link between COVID-19 infections and heart-related problems. A large 2022 analysis of patients in the VA system—some of whom had recovered from COVID-19 and others who had never been diagnosed—showed those who had had COVID-19 had higher rates of a number of heart-related risks, including irregular heartbeats heart attack and stroke.
Dr. Susan Cheng, chair of women’s cardiovascular health and population science at Cedars-Sinai, is studying whether there are any associations between rates of heart attacks and surges of COVID-19 infections, in order to better understand how the virus might be affecting the heart.
There is also early evidence showing that people with hypertension may be at higher risk of heart events when they get COVID-19. What connects the viral infection to the heart isn’t known yet, but the body’s immune system is likely a major contributor.
“It’s been well documented that with SARS-CoV-2, the body responds with an inflammatory response that involves activating the immune system in a very dramatic way,” says Marks. “In the heart, it looks like the same inflammatory process is activating pathways that could be detrimental to heart function.” But more research needs to clarify that process, says Dr. Mariell Jessup, chief science and medical officer at the American Heart Association.
“If the assumption is that the infection causes inflammation, and the assumption is that the inflammation is precipitating more cardiovascular events, then how is it doing that?” It’s also possible that viruses can infect and adversely affect heart cells. “We’re still at the tip of the iceberg with respect to understanding how COVID-19 affects health,” says Cheng.
Marks is hoping to get some of those answers with the animal experiments he plans to conduct. “We hope to optimize the animal model to best reflect what we think is going on in patients,” he says. “We want to study at a very, very detailed level what happens in the heart when the virus infects an animal.”
Ultimately, that knowledge will help to better treat people who might be at higher risk of heart-related problems from COVID-19, which could in turn reduce hospitalizations and deaths from the disease. Marks has already developed a potential drug that can address the leaking calcium if that proves to be a problem with COVID-19; he is ready and eager to test it if his animal studies justify the experiments.
Until more definitive studies clarify how the COVID-19 virus is affecting the heart, Jessup says she would advise her patients to “control the things we know how to control,” such as the risk factors that might put them at higher risk of heart disease to begin with, such as obesity, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
And with more data emerging, if people are getting repeat COVID-19 infections, it’s also probably worth seeing their doctor to get their heart disease risk factors checked as well. “We spend a lot of time telling people they should get vaccinated,” she says. “For people who have had COVID-19, we should also be making sure they know their heart numbers and make sure they know blood pressure. “We know how to prevent heart disease, so let’s do the things we know how to do.”
Mobility training is important for healthy aging because it helps make everyday tasks easier. Image Credit: Jose Luis Pelaez Inc/DigitalVision/GettyImages
When you look into your future, who do you want to see? Someone who’s full of life and chatting everyone up, telling vibrant stories about your past? Still signing up for 10Ks well into your seventh decade? Someone whose doctor tells them they have the heart of someone decades younger?
It’s possible to live longer and feel better if you have the right habits. Here’s what internal medicine doctors, registered dietitians and certified personal trainers do to make sure they age well:
I Switch Up My Food
Variety is the X-factor when it comes to building a healthy diet for longevity, Angel Planells, MD, RDN, a Seattle-based national media spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics, tells LIVESTRONG.com. “Consuming a wide variety of foods — whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, dairy and meat and non-meat protein — helps to fuel my body and have it running like a high-octane sports car,” he says. As Planells explains, variety beats boredom and ensures he’s getting a range of nutrients, including carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals.
That’s on display with his protein choices, where he toggles between chicken, fish, pork and lamb, as well as snacking on nuts and seeds. In addition to being used to build and repair muscles and maintain the strength of your skeleton, protein is also important for the health of hair and nails, too, he says.
I Get Some Sort of Movement in Every Day
Eric Goldberg, MD, clinical associate professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health and senior director of NYU Langone Internal Medicine Associates, heads out for a run first thing in the morning.”Establishing a strong baseline for fitness at a younger age has been shown to lead to healthier aging,” he tells LIVESTRONG.com….Continue reading…..
A lot of creatine experts are sick of the way we talk about creatine. Some are tired of cotton candy-flavored energy drinks hawking “super creatine” on neon cans, protein bars infused with the supplement, social media posts confusing creatine with steroids. Others are tired of the slew of “before and after” TikToks in which trim young men show off bulging muscles after a handful of weeks taking the supplement, or women display rippling abs they attribute only to the powder.
“I don’t know why people make up things about this particular supplement,” said Jose Antonio, an associate professor of health and human performance at Nova Southeastern University in Florida who has studied creatine. The world of creatine is rife with misinformation, he said, in spite of the large — and growing — body of evidence that the supplement can improve short bursts of athletic performance and enhance muscle mass.
Is the powder a miracle workout supplement, or is the hype overblown? Here’s what to know.
What even is creatine?
Creatine is formed in the body from compounds similar to amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. It serves as a type of fuel for your skeletal muscles, and can promote muscle growth when paired with exercise. It’s produced in the liver and kidneys, but you likely get creatine through your diet, too — red meat, fish and chicken contain it.
Throughout the day, your body naturally replenishes creatine in your muscles, but supplements can help “top up the tank,” said Eric Rawson, a health, nutrition and exercise science professor at Messiah University in Pennsylvania.
Creatine monohydrate — the form of creatine typically found in commercial powders — has been rigorously studied. “There’s probably more data on creatine monohydrate than any other supplement in existence,” Dr. Antonio said.
The Facts Behind 5 Supplements
Card 1 of 5
Collagen. Collagen, is one of the most abundant proteins in the body and helps form our skin, bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments. As we age, we naturally start reducing its production. Some studies show that taking collagen supplements can reduce signs of aging, increase bone density and improve joint, back and knee pain. But many of these studies are small and funded by the companies behind such products, increasing the opportunity for bias. Certain products also have flaws that reduce the likelihood of their efficacy: Topical creams, for example, are unlikely to make it into the deeper level of the skin where collagen is produced.
Vitamin B6. This essential nutrient is involved in a number of chemical reactions that are important for the proper functioning of the immune and nervous systems. As with the other essential vitamins, the body cannot produce B6 on its own, so you can only get it from foods (such as tuna, salmon, chickpeas, poultry, dark leafy greens, bananas, oranges, cantaloupe and nuts) or supplements. Most healthy adults get more than enough vitamin B6 from their diets alone, so B6 supplements are generally not needed.
Melatonin. The hormone is released by our brains as it starts to get dark outside, making us sleepy. Taking it in supplement form tricks your body into feeling like it’s nighttime. Experts urge people to consult their doctor before taking melatonin, as the supplement does not address underlying health problems, like anxiety and sleep apnea, that may disrupt sleep and require treatment. Lifestyle changes that experts say help us sleep better, from limiting alcohol consumption to exercising regularly, should also be considered first.
Vitamin D. Our bodies need this vitamin for the gut to absorb calcium, which bones need to grow and stay healthy. But a large study in the United States reported that vitamin D pills taken with or without calcium have no effect on bone fracture rates and a host of other ailments like cancer and cardiovascular disease. Even so, some people, including those with conditions like celiac and those who are deprived of sunshine, however, may find the supplements useful.
There are more than twenty different formulations of creatine, Dr. Rawson said, including creatine hydrochloride and creatyl-l-leucine, but only creatine monohydrate has strong evidence behind it, so he would recommend against consuming another form of the compound.
What are the benefits of creatine?
Creatine has specific, focused benefits for exercisers. The supplement can power you through short bursts of activity, like lifting a weight or dashing through a short race. If you’re in the middle of a Peloton workout, for instance, you might be able to increase your speed for a sprint, said David Creel, an exercise physiologist and a psychologist and dietitian in the Bariatric and Metabolic Institute at the Cleveland Clinic.
But the effect is usually small. Creatine makes the most sense for certain competitive athletes eager for a split-second advantage, said Samantha Heller, a senior clinical nutritionist at N.Y.U. Langone Health. “For your average gym-goer, someone who’s a cyclist, someone who plays soccer on the weekends — they don’t need this,” she said.
Scientists have studied creatine and exercise performance since the early ‘90s. A recent review of 35 studies found that creatine supplementation, combined with resistance training, increased lean body mass — the body’s weight, minus fat — by more than two pounds in adults, regardless of age. The difference is small, but significant, although men reported higher gains than women. Vegetarians and vegans are more likely to have a larger response to the supplements, since they don’t get as much creatine in their diets, Dr. Rawson said.
Creatine may provide a small boost in muscle mass, but “whether it’s a 2 or 3 or 4 percent gain, no dietary supplements compare to proper training and sleep and nutrition habits,” Dr. Rawson said. Still, the increase could have a notable effect on older adults in particular, he said. “A very, very small improvement in strength could be the difference between a fall and not a fall.”
And emerging research suggests that creatine could have cognitive benefits, potentially enhancing memory and attenuating symptoms of concussions or traumatic brain injuries, although that data is much more limited than studies on creatine and muscular fitness.
Are there side effects to creatine?
“There really doesn’t appear to be any major hazards to it, which is kind of unique for a supplement,” said Dr. Creel. People who take the supplement, especially in large quantities, might experience some gastrointestinal distress, said Ms. Heller. People may also bloat or experience weight gain.
There are some claims floating around social media that creatine causes hair loss, but doctors said there was not significant research to verify that. And you won’t get any kind of high from creatine — it’s not like the jolt of energy you get from downing an espresso, Dr. Creel said.
The supplement is popular with teenagers, but there isn’t data on prolonged long-term use, especially in people who are still growing, said Dr. Pieter Cohen, an associate professor of medicine at the Cambridge Health Alliance, who studies supplements. Out of an abundance of caution, he suggested that teens refrain from using the supplement.
What to keep in mind before taking creatine
As with any supplement, you should talk to your primary care doctor before you start taking creatine. And just like other dietary supplements you can pull off the shelves, creatine is not tested by the Food and Drug Administration, said Dr. Cohen. That means there’s no guarantee that a powder you’re buying actually contains the amount of creatine it claims, or even any at all. The Department of Defense’s Operation Supplement Safety program recommends four third-party companies that test and evaluate dietary supplements, which you can use to ensure you’re really getting creatine.
You should also stick with the recommended dose, which is usually around three to five grams per day. There isn’t substantial data for how long people can safely take the supplement beyond five years.It’s also important to come up with specific goals before taking the supplement, Dr. Cohen said, and to determine what the pill or powder could actually help you achieve — keeping in mind that it’s not a guaranteed ticket to building muscle. “People think creatine’s a steroid,” Dr. Antonio said. “That’s like saying water is fire.”
Creatine was first identified in 1832 when Michel Eugène Chevreul isolated it from the basified water-extract of skeletal muscle. He later named the crystallized precipitate after the Greek word for meat, κρέας (kreas). In 1928, creatine was shown to exist in equilibrium with creatinine.[3] Studies in the 1920s showed that consumption of large amounts of creatine did not result in its excretion. This result pointed to the ability of the body to store creatine, which in turn suggested its use as a dietary supplement.[4]
In 1912, Harvard University researchers Otto Folin and Willey Glover Denis found evidence that ingesting creatine can dramatically boost the creatine content of the muscle.[5][non-primary source needed] In the late 1920s, after finding that the intramuscular stores of creatine can be increased by ingesting creatine in larger than normal amounts, scientists discovered phosphocreatine (creatine phosphate), and determined that creatine is a key player in the metabolism of skeletal muscle. The substance creatine is naturally formed in vertebrates.[6]
The discovery of phosphocreatine[7][8] was reported in 1927.[9][10][8] In the 1960s, creatine kinase (CK) was shown to phosphorylate ADP using phosphocreatine (PCr) to generate ATP. It follows that ATP, not PCr is directly consumed in muscle contraction. CK uses creatine to “buffer” the ATP/ADP ratio.[11]
While creatine’s influence on physical performance has been well documented since the early twentieth century, it came into public view following the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. An August 7, 1992 article in The Times reported that Linford Christie, the gold medal winner at 100 meters, had used creatine before the Olympics. An article in Bodybuilding Monthly named Sally Gunnell, who was the gold medalist in the 400-meter hurdles, as another creatine user. In addition, The Times also noted that 100 meter hurdler Colin Jackson began taking creatine before the Olympics.
At the time, low-potency creatine supplements were available in Britain, but creatine supplements designed for strength enhancement were not commercially available until 1993 when a company called Experimental and Applied Sciences (EAS) introduced the compound to the sports nutrition market under the name Phosphagen.[14] Research performed thereafter demonstrated that the consumption of high glycemic carbohydrates in conjunction with creatine increases creatine muscle stores.
Creatine is a naturally occurring non-protein compound and the primary constituent of phosphocreatine, which is used to regenerate ATP within the cell. 95% of the human body’s total creatine and phosphocreatine stores are found in skeletal muscle, while the remainder is distributed in the blood, brain, testes, and other tissues. The typical creatine content of skeletal muscle (as both creatine and phosphocreatine) is 120 mmol per kilogram of dry muscle mass, but can reach up to 160 mmol/kg through supplementation.
Approximately 1–2% of intramuscular creatine is degraded per day and an individual would need about 1–3 grams of creatine per day to maintain average (unsupplemented) creatine storage.[18][19][20] An omnivorous diet provides roughly half of this value, with the remainder synthesized in the liver and kidneys.
Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. 9 (1): 33. doi:10.1186/1550-2783-9-33. PMC3407788. PMID22817979. Creatine is produced endogenously at an amount of about 1 g/d. Synthesis predominately occurs in the liver, kidneys, and to a lesser extent in the pancreas. The remainder of the creatine available to the body is obtained through the diet at about 1 g/d for an omnivorous diet.
“The role of dietary creatine”. Amino Acids. 48 (8): 1785–91. doi:10.1007/s00726-016-2188-1. PMID26874700. S2CID3700484. The daily requirement of a 70-kg male for creatine is about 2 g; up to half of this may be obtained from a typical omnivorous diet, with the remainder being synthesized in the body … More than 90% of the body’s creatine and phosphocreatine is present in muscle
Hultman E, Söderlund K, Timmons JA, Cederblad G, Greenhaff PL (July 1996). “Muscle creatine loading in men”. Journal of Applied Physiology. 81 (1): 232–7. doi:10.1152/jappl.1996.81.1.232. PMID8828669.Balsom PD, Söderlund K, Ekblom B (October 1994). “Creatine in humans with special reference to creatine supplementation”. Sports Medicine. 18 (4): 268–80. doi:10.2165/00007256-199418040-00005. PMID7817065. S2CID23929060.
Harris RC, Söderlund K, Hultman E (September 1992). “Elevation of creatine in resting and exercised muscle of normal subjects by creatine supplementation”. Clinical Science. 83 (3): 367–74. doi:10.1042/cs0830367. PMID1327657.Brosnan JT, da Silva RP, Brosnan ME (May 2011). “The metabolic burden of creatine synthesis”. Amino Acids. 40 (5): 1325–31. doi:10.1007/s00726-011-0853-y. PMID21387089. S2CID8293857. Creatinine loss averages approximately 2 g (14.6 mmol) for 70 kg males in the 20- to 39-year age group. …\
Hespel P, Eijnde BO, Derave W, Richter EA (2001). “Creatine supplementation: exploring the role of the creatine kinase/phosphocreatine system in human muscle”. Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology. 26 Suppl: S79-102. doi:10.1139/h2001-045. PMID11897886.“L-Arginine:Glycine Amidinotransferase”. Archived from the original on 24 August 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
Blancquaert L, Baguet A, Bex T, Volkaert A, Everaert I, Delanghe J, et al. Changing to a vegetarian diet reduces the body creatine pool in omnivorous women, but appears not to affect carnitine and carnosine homeostasis: a randomised trial. The British Journal of Nutrition 2018;119:759–70. https://doi.org/10.1017/S000711451800017XArchived 19 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine.
Watt KKO, Garnham AP, Snow RJ. Skeletal muscle total creatine content and creatine transporter gene expression in vegetarians prior to and following creatine supplementation. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism 2004;14:517–31. https://doi.org/10.1123/IJSNEM.14.5.517Archived 19 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine.
Yazigi Solis M, de Salles Painelli V, Artioli GG, Roschel H, Otaduy MC, Gualano B. Brain creatine depletion in vegetarians? A cross-sectional 1H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) study. The British Journal of Nutrition 2014;111:1272–4. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114513003802Archived 19 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine.
Persky AM, Brazeau GA (June 2001). “Clinical pharmacology of the dietary supplement creatine monohydrate”. Pharmacological Reviews. 53 (2): 161–76. PMID11356982.Steenge GR, Simpson EJ, Greenhaff PL (September 2000). “Protein- and carbohydrate-induced augmentation of whole body creatine retention in humans”. Journal of Applied Physiology. 89 (3): 1165–71. doi:10.1152/jappl.2000.89.3.1165. PMID10956365. S2CID19569207.
Hanna-El-Daher L, Braissant O (August 2016). “Creatine synthesis and exchanges between brain cells: What can be learned from human creatine deficiencies and various experimental models?”. Amino Acids. 48 (8): 1877–95. doi:10.1007/s00726-016-2189-0. PMID26861125. S2CID3675631.Bender A, Klopstock T (August 2016). “Creatine for neuroprotection in neurodegenerative disease: end of story?”. Amino Acids. 48 (8): 1929–40. doi:10.1007/s00726-015-2165-0. PMID26748651. S2CID2349130.
Kreider RB (February 2003). “Effects of creatine supplementation on performance and training adaptations”. Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry. 244 (1–2): 89–94. doi:10.1023/A:1022465203458. PMID12701815. S2CID35050122.Greenhaff PL, Casey A, Short AH, Harris R, Soderlund K, Hultman E (May 1993). “Influence of oral creatine supplementation of muscle torque during repeated bouts of maximal voluntary exercise in man”. Clinical Science. 84 (5): 565–71. doi:10.1042/cs0840565. PMID8504634.
Pilates has seen a jump in popularity recently thanks to a spate of celebrity endorsements, including the Kardashians, model Hailey Bieber and actress Kate Hudson. Even elite athletes such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Andy Murray incorporate some form of pilates into their training to improve performance.
Pilates is said to be good for your balance, posture, strength and flexibility, as well as improving your core strength. And the best part about it is that anyone can do it, not just celebrities and athletes. But does research show that it’s as good for your health as many people claim?
There are two main types of pilates. The simplest is mat pilates – which you only need a yoga mat to do, and can be done both at home or in a class. The other type of pilates (which is becoming increasingly popular) is reformer pilates. This uses a specialised apparatus (called a reformer) – a bed-like frame with a flat platform on it.
The platform moves forward and backwards on wheels within the frame. The platform is attached to one end of the frame by springs and these produce tension. Most reformer pilates involves pushing or pulling the platform, or holding it steady as it’s pulled on by the strings. This movement engages several muscles – particularly the core.
What the evidence says
Pilates is a form of muscle strengthening exercise, which is well-known to be important for maintaining good health. Strength training is important as it helps us prevent the slow muscle deterioration that occurs as we get older. It also increases muscle mass, which can in turn increase metabolism – which is important for maintaining a healthy weight.
There’s some evidence that doing eight weeks of pilates for one hour a day, four times a week can increase metabolism and reduce obesity in obese women. In older adults, a review of research showed pilates training improved balance and helped prevent falls.
Another study even showed that inactive women who began performing only one hour of pilates a week for ten weeks had improved muscle mass, flexibility, balance and core strength. Research also shows that pilates may even be used to treat low back pain and improve balance in adults with multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s’s disease.
The evidence shows us that pilates can certainly lead to several health benefits. While more intense types of strength training – such as weight lifting – are likely to confer even greater benefits, pilates can still be a great way for people to control their weight and build strength. The best part about it is that this workout can be done by almost anyone anywhere, and doesn’t require a lot of equipment or a gym membership.
Reformer v mat pilates
Among people who do pilates, there’s a lot of discussion about which type is superior: mat or reformer pilates.There’s actually little research out there comparing the two types. One study looking at the treatment of low back pain found that both reformer pilates and mat pilates worked equally well to improve back pain in people who did the workout for six weeks.
Both types also equally improved people’s ability to undertake daily activities, such as getting out of bed or doing the dishes. But when participants were followed up four and a half months later, the reformer pilates group continued to experience improvements in their daily life compared to the mat pilates group.
Another study from Brazil also showed both reformer pilates and mat pilates used the same number of muscles and activated them to the same extent – suggesting there’s no difference between the two methods, and that both are equally effective. But this conflicts with the findings of another study, which showed reformer pilates caused people to burn more calories (2.6 calories per minute) than mat Pilates (1.9 calories per minute).
The reason for the slight differences between these two types of pilates comes down to how they’re performed. While mat pilates uses your body weight as resistance during the movements, reformer pilates uses the unstable platform and springs to create resistance. This might create greater resistance and activate more muscles. Though this wasn’t supported by the Brazilian study, they only looked at one movement, so more research is needed.
Although research can’t quite agree on whether mat pilates or reformer pilates is better for you, that doesn’t mean that reformer pilates isn’t still great for your health. For example, one study showed that people who did reformer pilates for nine weeks had improved cholesterol levels and lower insulin resistance, suggesting that it can help maintain weight and lower the risk of certain diseases, such as type 2 diabetes.
As you can see, pilates is becoming popular for good reason as it provides many health benefits. People of all ages and abilities can do it, including pregnant women. How you decide to do it is entirely up to you, but if you have health difficulties or are pregnant, you may want to consult your doctor first.
This study investigates whether Pilates and yoga lead people to adopt generally health-promoting lifestyle elements and feel better about their physical and mental fitness. To this end, we designed an 8 week exercise program of Pilates and yoga reviewed by veteran practitioners and conducted an experimental study through which we collected the data from 90 volunteered adult subjects between ages 30 and 49 (mean age = 35.47), equally represented by women and men without previous experience with Pilates or yoga.
In the 8 week long experiment, we assigned the subjects to three groups, where subjects in the two exercise groups regularly took part in either Pilates or yoga classes, and the control group participated in neither exercise classes. All participants completed two surveys, the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP II) and the Health Self-Rating Scale (HSRS), before and after their assigned program. In our analysis of pre- and post-treatment differences across the three groups, we ran ANOVA, ANCOVA, and Sheffé test, implemented using SPSS PASW Statistics 18.00.
Our results indicate that Pilates and yoga groups exhibited a higher engagement in health-promoting behaviors than the control group after the program. Subjective health status, measured with HSRS, also improved significantly among Pilates and yoga participants compared to those in the control group after the program. The supplementary analysis finds no significant gender-based difference in these impacts.
Overall, our results confirm that Pilates and yoga help recruit health-promoting behaviors in participants and engender positive beliefs about their subjective health status, thereby setting a positive reinforcement cycle in motion. By providing clear evidence that the promotion of Pilates or yoga can serve as an effective intervention strategy that helps individuals change behaviors adverse to their health, this study offers practical implications for healthcare professionals and public health officials alike.
Among many kinds of physical activity programs, it is noteworthy that Pilates and yoga have gained increasing popularity amongst the general public over the past two decades. Pilates and yoga are particularly appealing due to their direct benefits on physical wellbeing—including weight control and improved posture, flexibility, and cardiovascular function—that come with low risks of sports-related injuries
. According to an annual survey conducted by IDEA(International Dance Exercise Association) Fitness Programs and Equipment Survey in 2007, Pilates ranked sixth on the most frequently offered exercise programs, a vast improvement since 1999 . In the same year, yoga also ranked 13th, although its position has undergone gradual declines from its peak in 2002. In annual Fitness Trends Surveys carried out by a United States (US)-based association of Sports Medicine, Pilates and yoga have been frequently listed as Worldwide Fitness Trends since 2008.
Evidence of the direct health benefits of Pilates and yoga is growing. For example, some studies showed that regular engagement in Pilates is associated with a boost in functional autonomy, balance, flexibility, and muscle strength . Other studies show that regular yoga participation helped individuals alleviate muscle-related pains, especially among adults with sedentary lifestyles or suffering from chronic illnesses
Laura Gao for NPR
Think of the low-effort movements that you string together over the course of your day – things like household chores, strolling through the grocery aisle, climbing the stairs, bobbing your leg up and down at your desk, or cooking dinner. “The fact there’s so many things in part explains why it’s so difficult to study, because how on earth do you measure everything?” says Dr. James Levine, an endocrinologist who pioneered research on NEAT while at the Mayo Clinic and now heads the nonprofit Foundation Ipsen……Continue reading….
