PUSH-as-Rx ®™ Wellness Exercise & Fitness

The body adapts differently to different types of exercise. Aerobic, cardio, and endurance all refer to activities stimulating heart and breathing rates to provide the muscles with oxygenated blood. The oxygen is delivered by blood pumped from the heart through the arteries and returns to the heart through the veins. This explains all the heavy breathing during workouts. Aerobic exercise increases energy production in the muscle cells and blood delivery in the cardiovascular system.

Aerobic Exercise Health

The Heart

All the muscles get to rest on and off when in use. The heart is a unique muscle that pumps blood through the body that never gets time off. This is why it is important to strengthen the heart. With aerobic exercise, the heart's chamber/left ventricle gets larger, producing more blood per pump to the rest of the body. This improves cardiac output for the blood pumped by the heart per minute. When the heart is stronger, pumping more blood per beat means it doesn't have to beat as rapidly. A lower resting heart rate is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and promotes long and healthy life.

Vascular

Each time the heart beats, blood pumps from the left ventricle into the aorta and flows into a branching vessel network. Every artery in the body provides resistance to the circulation that the heart pushes against. The resistance provided can vary, depending on overall health and health conditions.

• Aerobic exercise training reduces the workload by reducing arterial stiffness.
• Aerobic exercise increases heart rate, pushing more blood through the arteries.
• The inner wall of the arteries recognizes the increased blood flow causing the arteries to widen.
• With regular training, the arteries acclimate and become more effective at expanding with each rush of blood.
• No aerobic activity can cause the arteries to stiffen, causing circulation problems.
• Increased arterial stiffness is associated with coronary artery plaque development.
• Aerobic exercise impacts the vascular system by promoting capillary growth.
• Capillaries are microscopic vessels where oxygen diffuses from red blood cells to the muscle and other cells.
• The body stimulates a molecule called vascular endothelial growth factor to grow additional capillaries to regulate energy demand more efficiently.
• Older individuals benefit from aerobic activity similarly to young individuals.

Metabolic

Along with cardiovascular benefits, aerobic exercise increases the muscles’ energy production. The energy is produced in muscle cells primarily through an oxidative energy system. Oxidative energy production takes place within cells called mitochondria. Once blood delivers oxygen to the muscle cells, it can be used to produce energy that powers the muscles.

• Aerobic exercise training improves the muscle cells’ ability to burn fat by generating more mitochondria and enhancing functionality.
• Following each training session, the body burns more fat than usual.
• Aerobic training can increase resting metabolic rate, resulting in more calories burned.
• It can increase post-exercise oxygen consumption/EPOC, resulting in increased calorie burn after training in addition to calories burned during exercise.

Muscle

The muscles adapt from aerobic training. Muscles are made up of various fiber types.

• Aerobic exercise training primarily influences type 1 fibers, known as slow-twitch fibers.
• The name comes from the proteins responsible for their contractions.
• Relative to type 2a fibers/fast-twitch, type 1 fibers contract more slowly but have an increased capacity to contract over and over for longer.
• Aerobic training results in hypertrophy of type 1 muscle fibers by adding more slow-twitch proteins.

Strengthening the heart and making arteries more flexible directly impacts health and physical function. Aerobic exercise strengthens and trains the heart to circulate blood efficiently. Injury Medical Chiropractic and Functional Medicine Clinic can develop a personalized health plan for your needs.

Aerobic Exercise Health: Dance Workout

General Disclaimer *

The information herein is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified healthcare professional or licensed physician and is not medical advice. We encourage you to make healthcare decisions based on your research and partnership with a qualified healthcare professional. Our information scope is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, sensitive health issues, functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We provide and present clinical collaboration with specialists from various disciplines. Each specialist is governed by their professional scope of practice and their jurisdiction of licensure. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for the injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our videos, posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate to and directly or indirectly support our clinical scope of practice.* Our office has reasonably attempted to provide supportive citations and identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We provide copies of supporting research studies available to regulatory boards and the public upon request.

We understand that we cover matters that require an additional explanation of how it may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to further discuss the subject matter above, please contact Dr. Alex Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900.

Dr. Alex Jimenez DC, MSACP, CCST, IFMCP*, CIFM*, ATN*

email: coach@elpasofunctionalmedicine.com

Licensed in: Texas & New Mexico*

References

Arbab-Zadeh, Armin, et al. “Cardiac remodeling in response to 1 year of intensive endurance training.” Circulation vol. 130,24 (2014): 2152-61. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.114.010775

Gavin, Timothy P et al. “No difference in the skeletal muscle angiogenic response to aerobic exercise training between young and aged men.” The Journal of physiology vol. 585, Pt 1 (2007): 231-9. doi:10.1113/Physiol.2007.143198

Hellsten, Ylva, and Michael Nyberg. “Cardiovascular Adaptations to Exercise Training.” Comprehensive Physiology vol. 6,1 1-32. 15 Dec. 2015, doi:10.1002/cphy.c140080

Nauman, Javaid, et al. “Temporal changes in resting heart rate and deaths from ischemic heart disease.” JAMA vol. 306,23 (2011): 2579-87. doi:10.1001/jama.2011.1826

Popel, A S. “Theory of oxygen transport to tissue.” Critical reviews in biomedical engineering vol. 17,3 (1989): 257-321.

Seals, Douglas R et al. “Aerobic exercise training and vascular function with aging in healthy men and women.” The Journal of physiology vol. 597,19 (2019): 4901-4914. doi:10.1113/JP277764

Anybody can become dehydrated if they don’t take care of themselves and drink plenty of water. Being dehydrated happens when there is insufficient water in the body or increased water loss through sweating, vomiting, and/or diarrhea, along with certain medications, can increase urination and dehydration. Older adults have an increased risk of dehydrating because their body’s fluid reserves decrease, and their body’s ability to signal that they are thirsty does not work as effectively, especially those with memory problems.

Dehydrated Symptoms

Signs of dehydration include:

• Muscle cramps.
• Dry mouth
• Dry cough.
• Tiredness/fatigue.
• Flushed red skin.
• Swollen feet.
• High heart rate but low blood pressure.
• Dizziness, weakness, light-headedness.
• Headache, delirium, confusion.
• Loss of appetite with a sugar craving.
• Heat intolerance or chills.
• Constipation.
• Dark-colored urine. Urine should be a pale clear color.

Dehydration Levels

Dehydration is categorized as:

Mild

• The body needs more fluids to be taken in.
• Drink water
• Drinks containing electrolytes are recommended if experiencing significant sweating or fluid losses from vomiting and diarrhea.
• The body should feel better after five or ten minutes.

Moderate

• Moderate dehydration requires intravenous hydration.
• This is done in urgent care, emergency room, or a hospital.

Severe

• If symptoms of dehydration are severe, call 911 or go to an emergency clinic.

Brain Health

• Severe hydration shrinks the blood vessels in the brain.
• When fluid levels in the brain are low, this affects memory and coordination.

Diagnosis

Laboratory tests can diagnose dehydration and include:

• Low urine sodium.
• Elevated plasma serum osmolality measures particle concentration in blood plasma.
• Elevated creatinine tests kidney function.
• Elevated blood urea nitrogen is also related to kidney function.

The amount of water needed daily is different for all individuals; therefore, it is recommended to check in with a healthcare provider to determine how much is required to maintain health.

 Body Composition

Enjoy Drinking Water

• Carry a water bottle, keep it filled, and get used to taking sips throughout the day to start a healthy habit.
• Add flavor like a wedge of lemon/lime, lime or lemon juice, or a healthy water additive.
• Choose water or healthy hot or iced tea instead of sugary drinks, including at meals.
• Eat foods high in water content, like fruits and vegetables.

General Disclaimer *

The information herein is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional, licensed physician, and is not medical advice. We encourage you to make your own health care decisions based on your research and partnership with a qualified health care professional. Our information scope is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, sensitive health issues, functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We provide and present clinical collaboration with specialists from a wide array of disciplines. Each specialist is governed by their professional scope of practice and their jurisdiction of licensure. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for the injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our videos, posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate to and support, directly or indirectly, our clinical scope of practice.* Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We provide copies of supporting research studies available to regulatory boards and the public upon request.

We understand that we cover matters that require an additional explanation of how it may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900.

Dr. Alex Jimenez DC, MSACP, CCST, IFMCP*, CIFM*, ATN*

email: coach@elpasofunctionalmedicine.com

Licensed in: Texas & New Mexico*

References

Bhave, Gautam, and Eric G Neilson. “Volume depletion versus dehydration: how understanding the difference can guide therapy.” American journal of kidney diseases: the official journal of the National Kidney Foundation vol. 58,2 (2011): 302-9. doi:10.1053/j.ajkd.2011.02.395

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Drinking-Water. (https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/nutrition/index.html)

HealthFirst. What Happens to Your Body When You’re Dehydrated? (https://healthyliving.healthfirst.org/happens-body-youre-dehydrated/)

Kenefick, Robert W, and Michael N Sawka. “Hydration at the worksite.” Journal of the American College of Nutrition vol. 26,5 Suppl (2007): 597S-603S. doi:10.1080/07315724.2007.10719665

Thomas, David R et al. “Understanding clinical dehydration and its treatment.” Journal of the American Medical Directors Association vol. 9,5 (2008): 292-301. doi:10.1016/j.jamda.2008.03.006