Daily activity is essential to healthy living and helps us retain our physical and mental fitness. We all know physical inactivity can lead to obesity, type-2 diabetes, and hypertension. However, a recently conducted study suggests it is also linked with vascular health. To help you understand this link, this article will take a look into this research.
Physical Inactivity and Vascular Health
According to the study, a reduction in levels of physical activity, even for a few days, results in a decrease in the functioning of the inner lining of blood vessels located in the legs of healthy young people. This can lead to vascular dysfunctions that may have a prolonged effect. The intensity of this reduced function can be understood from the research finding that this dysfunction, which is a result of mere five days of physical inactivity, requires more than one day of returning to physical activity.
Health practitioners have maintained that the negative outcomes of being physically inactive can be reversed from engaging in physical activity. Data indicates that individuals, regardless of their time of life and stage of disease, can benefit from being active to prolong their lives. However, the damage that is sustained by the blood vessels in the legs from being inactive for five days or more can take a long time to repair.
Outcomes of Physical Inactivity
Research previously carried out on physical inactivity pointed out to the impact of physical inactivity on blood sugar levels, blood flow, and vascular functions. Decrease in physical activity, according to earlier research, is linked with hypertension and cardiovascular problems.
Doctors believe the outcome of physical inactivity is typically obesity, which may be followed by type-2 diabetes and heart diseases. Since more and more people in the U.S. are developing type-2 diabetes, the best treatment available is to indulge in physical activity. Though the response of blood flow to glucose ingestion did not seem to be affected by inactivity for five days, insulin sensitivity and glycemic control impairment are the results of reduced activity.
The susceptibility of vascular health to physical inactivity, therefore, can thus be understood in terms of the transition of an individual from higher to lower activity levels. According to doctors, the resulting damage to the blood vessels of the leg as a result of decreased physical activity can be termed as dramatic. Therefore, all individuals who do not normally pay attention to the health issues that may arise from lower physical inactivity should realize the detrimental effect inactivity has on the body.
Remain physically active regularly and protect your body from the harm inactivity can cause.