Exercise In Hot Water: Gym Battles Bath For Best Health Practice

The heat is on in the world of exercise mimetics. Exercise what? Exercise mimetics, the odd but essential field focused on how to mimic the physiological effects of physical activity without the physical activity. You might say, an armchair science. Odd, because it involves highly sophisticated and costly research attempting to uncover what happens when you break a sweat, something neither sophisticated nor costly. Essential, because insufficient physical activity is now a leading cause of illness. This is good news for those folks who when they think about exercising lay down until the thought goes away. Recent research suggests that a daily dip in a hot bath may provide many of the health benefits seen with exercise. Just getting hot helps. Why would it be possible to fool the body so easily? And why is physical activity good for you in the first place? The answer to these questions provides a blueprint for designing a healthy lifestyle. Two key concepts underlie the explanation to both: homeostasis and stress. Let's start with homeostasis, the biology of staying the same. Border control is not unique to nation states. The first assignment of every cell is to secure its perimeter. Without this separation of inner and outer spaces, there would be no life, as we know it. The skins of cells, organs and entire animals actively maintain the essential conditions of a stable inner sanctum. This dynamic equilibrium of a steady state resisting constant external forces of c...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news