Thought stretching was always beneficial? Think again!
Research has shown that life as a couch potato, stretched out in front of the TV, can cause you to pack on the pounds. We all know this, don’t we! But do we know why?
Inactivity encourages the body to create new fat in fat cells. Pre-adipocyte cells-precursors to fat cells, turn into fat cells faster and produce more fat when undergoing prolong periods of “mechanical stretching loads” i.e. our body weight placed on body tissues when we sit or lie down.
Another damaging effect of the modern, sedentary lifestyle is obesity. Fat cells produce more triglycerides and at a faster rate when exposed to static stretching-i.e. lying on couch. When we lie on the couch we allow the amount of force placed on a particular area of our body to expand. Research done by Professor Gefen, Tel Aviv University shows that that long periods of static mechanical loading and stretching, due to the weight of the body when sitting or lying, has an impact on increasing lipid (FAT) production. These finding shows that we need to take our cell’s mechanical environment into account as well as pay attention to calories going in versus calories going out. Even somebody with a healthy diet and exercise habits will be negatively impacted by long periods of inactivity.
No comments:
Post a Comment