Friday, April 29, 2016

I'll take it up when they can get it down to 45 seconds

The Case for the 1-Minute Workout Is Getting Stronger | TIME: In the latest study, published in PLOS One, exercise scientists led by Martin Gibala, chair of kinesiology at McMaster University, who has spent the last several years documenting the health benefits of interval training, found that as little as one minute of intensive exercise could have the same health benefits for the heart, respiratory fitness and muscles as 45 minutes of more typical continuous exercise over three months.

Granted, those 60 seconds have to be at a sprint-like pace, as if you’re being chased down by a tiger and fueled by adrenaline. But it’s just 60 seconds. “I think there is good evidence that shows you can see comparable benefits despite the fact that intervals require less total exercise and reduced time commitment,” says Gibala.

4 comments:

John said...

1 minute is pushing the credibility too much. I have long argued that most people spend far too much time exercising. Short intense workouts do appear better but more in the 10-15 minute range. The key issue is inducing a hormetic response. The problem with high intensity is that there is a higher risk of injury. Moreover my generic complaint with so much health advice is that it presumes a remarkable degree of homogeneity in human physiology.

John said...

Since you don't like exercise try saunas. I looked into this a few years ago and follow up some studies last night. There are considerable health benefits to saunas.

Steve said...

Really? The problem is, I don't really like sweating. :)

I do enjoy Japanese onsen, though, although I do tend to go for the cooler for the coolest hot bath I can find.

John said...

Yeah but as I just emailed to some friends ...




So I decided to do my weekly email shredding and first opened the Mercola email because I enjoy shredding his emails but I found a lengthy article on the value of temperature changes. Thus ...




"[A]nimal studies have shown that when mice are exposed to the sauna they increase their protein synthesis by 30 percent compared to the mice that are not being exposed to the sauna.

This was shown to be dependent on the heat shock proteins, HSPs, in the muscle. [T]he important thing here is the actual heat stress. You want to feel uncomfortable. You want to feel hot. That's when you know that these good pathways are getting activated.
---
Oh Look! My old friend heat shock proteins. I also had a suspicion that saunas would promote nitric oxide production via skin vasodilation because it is known that sunlight exposure can promote that as there are nitrate\nitrite stores under the skin and there are studies highlighting how that NO generation enters into systemic circulation. Note however NO has a short half life(30 sec) and spreads rapidly. Sure enough ...


See comment in PubMed Commons below
Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2011 Aug;301(2):H548-54. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00103.2011. Epub 2011 May 27.

Repeated sauna therapy attenuates ventricular remodeling after myocardial infarction in rats by increasing coronary vascularity of noninfarcted myocardium.


PMID:

21622828


Circ J. 2006 Apr;70(4):463-70.

Repeated thermal therapy up-regulates endothelial nitric oxide synthase and augments angiogenesis in a mouse model of hindlimb ischemia.

16565566

[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]


Free full text


Indeed "heat" shock is the basis for the term "heat shock protein", but it can also be produced by COLD shock. Hence maybe the value of Russians or Finns running from sauna to plunge into snow banks and roll around in them.


Yes, rapid temperature change induces greater heat shock protein expression and vascular dynamics. The HSP - amyloid clearance is obvious because various hsps bind unwanted proteins. I was thinking of this last night and it occurred to me that there must be a relationship between hsp expression to ubiquitination(where proteins are tagged for destruction). Interesting to see if temperature changes impact on ubiquitination.



Even more speculatively, the rapid and large changes in vasculature dilation may promote dislodging of accretion from the endothelial walls and simultaneously promote the transport to the liver and kidneys for degradation and elimination(cold drives blood to the organs).


1) Erickson's data on benefits of brisk lengthy walking. Others speak of "exercise vigorous enough to MAKE YOU SWEAT".


I recall some studies which indicate sweat + sunlight is important for inducing nitric oxide production.