Eat Well – Move Well – Think Well®
Resistance Exercise Significantly Reduces Risk of Metabolic Syndrome
“Meeting the resistance exercise guidelines was associated with a 17% lower risk of MetS (Metabolic Syndrome) after adjusting for potential confounders and aerobic exercise. Further, less than one hour of weekly resistance exercise was associated with 29% lower risk of developing MetS compared to no resistance exercise.
“Individuals meeting both recommended resistance and aerobic exercise guidelines had a 25% lower risk of developing MetS, compared to meeting neither guidelines.”
Conclusions
“Participating in resistance exercise, even less than one hour per week, was associated with a lower risk of developing MetS, independent of aerobic exercise. Health professionals should recommend patients to perform resistance exercise along with aerobic exercise to reduce MetS.”
“One third of US adults have metabolic syndrome (MetS). Cardiometabolic disorders, such as glucose intolerance, insulin resistance, central obesity, dyslipidemia, and hypertension are its key components. Therefore, MetS is an important risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Increasing physical activity (PA) is a cornerstone for preventing and treating MetS.”
“Several studies have investigated the associations between resistance exercise and type 2 diabetes mellitus, another common metabolic disease. Grontved et al. found a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus by performing less than one hour of resistance exercise per week in 32 000 men and 99 000 women. In addition, they showed that a combination of aerobic and resistance exercise was superior in preventing type 2 diabetes mellitus. We found similar results for the prevention of MetS.”
“Meeting both resistance and aerobic exercise guidelines was associated with 25% lower risk of developing MetS, compared to meeting neither of these guidelines. This suggests additional benefits of doing both resistance and aerobic exercise for the prevention of MetS.”
*Remember, metabolic syndrome is the exact group of comorbidities associated with over 94% of all COVID-19 related hospitalizations and deaths – this means that regular exercise is likely the MOST EFFECTIVE way to prevent severe outcomes from COVID-19!
You need to ensure you and your family get daily exercise. Going for a walk is free and requires no equipment, doing push-ups and standing squats is free and requires no equipment. With a very inexpensive set of dumbbell weights you can do all the exercise you need!
Exercise improves your health, improves your immune function, makes you feel and look better, and significantly reduces your risk of illness – including from COVID-19!
Reference: Bakker et al (2017) Association of Resistance Exercise, Independent of and Combined With Aerobic Exercise, With the Incidence of Metabolic Syndrome. Mayo Clin Proc 92(8): 1214-1222
