Produced by: Popular Science China
Produced by: Xu Minghui Wu Yibo
Supervised by: Computer Network Information Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
In recent years, with the boom in fitness and the rise of WeChat and QQ sports, more and more people have started to be enthusiastic about "brushing the steps" to beat the clock. Whether it is just the end of a day's work of white-collar workers, or just after the square dance moncler outlet, and even many children will be on their own every day in the step list "rankings" to enjoy. "Today, you broke 10,000 steps?" This slogan was once reproduced by major online platforms, triggering widespread concern.
(Image source: screenshot of the author's WeChat steps)
But at the same time, the network gradually came some skeptical voices: "10,000 steps a day can really fitness? Won't it be overloaded?" "Prolonged running, brush step will hurt the knees, will be more prone to arthritis!" These common arguments have gradually become more and more popular, and are often forwarded by the elders of the family to various family groups, and "sincerely teach": "Children, you can run a little less steps. Otherwise, when you get old, you will not be able to walk!" At first glance, it really makes people a bit scared.
So, is running really the culprit for arthritis? Is it true that more exercise makes you more likely to get arthritis?
"Running" out of arthritis?
First, let's take a look at what arthritis is. Arthritis is an inflammatory disease that occurs in the joints and surrounding tissues of the human body and is caused by inflammation, infection, degeneration, trauma, or other factors, and can be divided into dozens of categories. Clinical manifestations are redness, swelling, heat, pain, dysfunction and joint deformity of the joints, and in severe cases, it can lead to joint disability and affect the quality of life of patients [[1]]. The number of arthritis patients in China is more than 100 million, and the number is still increasing.
So what are the causative factors of arthritis? Clinical studies have found that the occurrence of arthritis is mainly related to autoimmune reaction, infection, metabolic disorders, trauma, degenerative disease (refers to the degeneration of tissue cells, necrosis and other pathological changes) and other factors. According to the etiology, arthritis can be categorized as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid, ankylosing, reactive, gouty, rheumatic, septic and so on. Among them, osteoarthritis is mainly related to aging of the human body; rheumatoid arthritis has a complex relationship with heredity, infection, environment, and immunity; ankylosing arthritis mainly occurs in the spine, and has a certain relationship with genetic and environmental factors, and mostly occurs in the male population; reactive arthritis is triggered by inflammatory arthropathy due to extra-articular infectious factors such as the intestinal system and the urinary tract, etc.; while gouty arthritis Gouty arthritis is an arthritis caused by urate crystallization and deposition.
None of these types of arthritis are directly related to exercise. If there is a slight relationship with sports-related injuries, only the first type of arthritis, osteoarthritis, makes any sense. However, research results show that osteoarthritis is most common in the osteoporosis patient group, the prevalence of osteoarthritis in people under 45 years old is only 2%, while the prevalence of people over 65 years old is as high as 68%, which is enough to show that osteoarthritis has more to do with the aging of the human body. Therefore, moderate exercise does not directly lead to the occurrence of arthritis.
(Image source: free version of Tupelo Creative)
To be in good health, moderate exercise can not be less
Moderate exercise, refers to the sportsman according to the individual's physical condition, site, equipment and climatic conditions, to choose the appropriate sports program, so that the exercise load is not more than the human body's ability to withstand, and after the exercise to feel comfortable, not fatigue, and will not cause excessive fatigue or shortness of breath! [[2]].
Moderate exercise has a great role in promoting human health. Moderate exercise can prevent a variety of chronic diseases, such as coronary artery and respiratory and metabolic diseases; it can also reduce the incidence of cancer; and it can help maintain a normal body weight and prevent overweight and obesity. Most importantly, moderate exercise can effectively prevent injuries, reduce the incidence of sports injuries, and maintain good joint function [[3]]. Therefore, moderate exercise has a positive effect on the prevention and protection of joint injuries, and healthy groups do not need to worry about the adverse effects of moderate exercise on joints.
Reasonable exercise, the key is "moderate"
Of course, there are special circumstances, such as some of the people who suffer from arthritis disease, or physical inappropriateness of running, in this case, we should comply with the doctor's advice, do not "bravely" to go to the challenge of some unsuitable sports. Challenge some sports that are not suitable for you. This is not only for their own health condition, but also to reduce the hidden danger, reduce the risk.
Additionally, the more you exercise, the better. All of the pros and cons are based on a "quantitative" basis, and the relationship between exercise and health is no different. Excessive exercise can cause damage to the body's immune function, affecting health. This is because when people exercise vigorously, the body will produce more adrenaline and cortisol and other hormones, when these hormones increase to a certain amount, can make the immune organs in the spleen to produce white blood cells greatly reduced, resulting in the lymphocytes in the A cells, B cells and natural killer cells (NK cells) activity is greatly reduced, which can be reduced by 35% of the natural killer cells. These lymphocytes are mainly involved in a number of immune activities, and a reduction in their activity can have a series of negative consequences for the body. In addition, excessive exercise can also lead to rhabdomyolysis, resulting in generalized soreness, and can even lead to kidney failure [[4]].
So, we should adhere to the daily exercise in moderation, do not overload, and can not have "can lie not sit, can sit not stand, can stand not move" "lazy thinking". Adhere to the long-term moderate exercise, is to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
References
[[1]]Lin Lulu, Sun Ning, Wang Xuerui, et al. Comparison and analysis of commonly used evaluation scales for knee osteoarthritis[J]. Chinese Journal of Pain Medicine, 2018, 24(2):135-139.
[[2]]Xu Haiquan,Sun Junmao,Ma Guansheng. Reasonable diet and moderate exercise to maintain healthy weight[J]. China Food and Nutrition, 2018, 24(1):5-9.
[[3]]Qian Yuyang. Winter running has many benefits Variable speed running is more suitable for fat loss[J]. Family Medicine. Happy Nutrition, 2018(2).
[[4]]Xiong, Wang Li. Two cases of rhabdomyolysis syndrome with acute kidney injury due to excessive exercise[J]. China Blood Purification, 2018(1):60-61.
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