The Physiology of Exercise

Dr. Robert Robergs, professor of exercise physiology explains: every time you work out, exercise sets in motion a cascade of events in your body that collaborate to help you lose weight and get healthier.  When you exercise--whether it's walking, biking or lifting weights--your muscles contract.  To contract, muscles need oxygen.  "The benefit of exercise is it stimulates the body to deliver more oxygen to the muscles that are contracting."  The need for oxygen makes you breathe faster.  Every time you inhale, a rush of oxygen-rich air flows into your lungs, making its way to red blood cells.  From there, hemoglobin transports it to muscles and everywhere else in the body it needs to go.  Your heart pumps harder to send the blood out and the more it works, the more efficient it gets.  "Over several weeks, the heart becomes a better pump."  Meanwhile, new blood vessels are produced and the net effect is to reduce your blood pressure.  That's not all exercise does for you.  "Because exercise burns calories, it can help reduce body fat.  It can raise good cholesterol--the HDL cholesterol." HDL (high density lipoprotein) is the "healthy" form that helps sweep the low-density (bad) cholesterol to the liver for removal, before it can build up in the arteries and lead to coronary artery disease. 

Robert G. Tupac, DDS, FACP, Inc., Diplomate, American Board of Prosthodontics (661) 325-1275 | www.drtupac.com 5060 California Ave., #170, Bakersfield, CA 93309