It’s possible if repeated enough times it may actually turn out to be true and not end up being a one ‘big lie’. Keeping on the COVID theme, how many of you have heard of COVID-15?
COVID-15: The 15 lbs of weight gain caused by nervously binge eating your COVID-19 food stockpile.
Jokes aside, evidence points to exercise being beneficial for not only boosting your metabolism (and ergo your weight), but also maintaining positive neural feedback thereby encouraging neural plasticity.
Neural plasticity can be defined as the ability of the central nervous system (CNS) to adapt in response to changes in the environment or lesions.
In a recently published work, investigators looked at trophic factors that have been associated with brain plasticity before and after excercise. They found (ignoring the fact that the study only had female participants) an increase in all neurotrophin levels, except for GDNF and CNTF (see Figure below). There was no significant influence of disability levels on this suggesting that exercise is still beneficial in the higher ends of disability.
* Indicate significant effect based on p<0.05. BDNF: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor; GDNF: Glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor; CNTF: Ciliary neurotrophic factor; NT: Neurotrophin.
This is not the first study of its kind and positive effects of excercise have been demonstrated on BDNF and NT in the past. If you’re interested in learning more about this, here is a good review on the effects of exercise on BDNF and memory: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2018.00052/full.
Abstract
Mult Scler Relat Disord. 2020 May 13;43:102143. doi: 10.1016/j.msard.2020.102143. Online ahead of print.
Exercise Improves Neurotrophins in Multiple Sclerosis Independent of Disability Status
Ebrahim Banitalebi, Majid Mardaniyan Ghahfarrokhi, Raoof Negaresh , Abdolreza Kazemi, Mohammad Faramarzi, Robert W Motl, Philipp Zimmer
Background: To date, studies examining the effect of exercise on neurotrophic factors in MS are contradictory, and this may be explained, in part, by moderators such as disability status. To investigating the effect of a 12-week (3sessions/week) supervised multimodal exercise program on neurotrophic factors levels.
Methods: Ninety four women with MS were randomly assigned into exercise or control conditions with randomization stratified by Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) scores of low (EDSS< 4.5), moderate (4.5 ≤EDSS≤ 6), or high (EDSS≥ 6.5) disability. The exercise program comprised resistance, endurance, Pilates, balance and stretch exercises. Resting level of neurotrophic factors, aerobic capacity, one-repetition maximum, and physiological cost index (PCI) were evaluated before and after the intervention period.
Results: Exercise training improved brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), neurotrophin (NT)-3, and NT-4/5 levels. The effect of exercise on NT-3 was dependent on disability status such that exercise groups with low and high disability had more pronounced changes compared with other condition. There were no exercise effects on ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) and glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF). Aerobic capacity and one-repetition maximum, but not PCI, were improved with exercise independent of disability status.
Conclusions: Exercise can stimulate neurotrophic production and secretion, and this is generally not influenced by disability status. Exercise training may be an adjuvant for disease-modifying therapy among people with MS, and its effect may not be moderated by disability status.
Dear NDG,
My hard weight limit is 220, so I normally am 222.2. Was 229 Recently.
-Aidan
Hope you can shift that Aidan 🙂
Ketone Bodies as a Fuel for the Brain during Starvation
“Obese nurse who had recurring chest pain to him forevaluation and for possible prolonged fasting for weight
loss. The patient, Ms. B., was motivated by fear of having
a heart attack; her father had died from a myocardial
infarction, and her mother had suffered several heart attacks.
Physical examination revealed a large-framed
woman whose height was 5 feet 8 inches, with a body
weight of 280 pounds and blood pressure of 140/90. Her
total plasma cholesterol was 360 mg/dl, and her fasting
blood glucose was 112 mg/dl. Other routine laboratory
tests were normal. Her resting electrocardiograms did not
suggest that she had inadequate cardiac circulation, but
from her medical history we suspected that she had insufficient
blood flow through her heart. The most definitive
test for determining cardiac blood flow was coronary angiography
with left ventriculography. These tests required
placing catheters into a peripheral artery in the thigh or
forearm and threading the catheter into the coronary arteries
and into the major chambers of the heart and filling
these sites with contrast dye that could be seen on x-rays.
None of us realized at the time Ms. B. was hospitalized
on the Peter Bent Brigham Clinical Research Center that
she was a godsend for our research.6 She understood the
research starvation protocol and the catheterization studies
that were planned in addition to her diagnostic heart
studies, and she admired and trusted Dr. Cahill and hisstaff. Ms. B. knew how 24-h urinary collections were performed
and was compulsive in voiding urine and collecting
her specimens accurately. Later, other volunteer-patients
followed the pattern she and our research team developed.
The length of time selected for our starvation study
of Ms. B. was 6 weeks. When someone asked me why we
chose the 6-week period, I replied that “Jesus fasted forty
days and forty nights; and afterward he hungered” (St.
Matthew 4:2We began our study by putting Ms. B. on a balanced diet
of proteins, fat, and carbohydrates, and after a few days
on the diet, we initiated an approved starvation protocol.
She received water, salt tablets, and vitamins. Our research
team made daily recordings of her weight, blood
pressure, body temperature, and pulse and also measured
her total body energy requirements using indirect calorimetry.
Urine was collected daily to determine the rate of
excretion of nitrogenous waste compounds, and blood
was sampled periodically for the routine analysis of metabolites.
After Ms. B. had fasted for 41 days, we inserted
multiple catheters into her blood vessels to measure
the exchange rate of metabolic materials between the
brain and liver. Although our team at the cardiac catheterization
laboratory had provided for every safety precaution,
we were concerned about the inherent risks of ob-taining multiple artery and venous blood samples from a
patient who had not eaten for 41 days. Simultaneous
arterial and venous blood samples were obtained over a
10-s timed period from around Ms. B.’s brain and liver, and
the level of metabolites was determined. We were thrilled
to learn Ms. B.’s brain had survived this long period of
starvation by metabolizing ketone bodies and greatly diminishing
the use of glucose.
https://iubmb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/bmb.2005.49403304246
would like to know what the exercise program / routine was for moderate and / or high disability.
Resistance exercise: biceps curl, triceps extension, bench press, seated row, heel raises, leg extension, squat. Done as 3 sets.
Endurance exercise: cycling or running for 20min (mod disability), body weight supported treadmill training or cycling for 20min (high disability)
Balance exercise: static postural control; weight shifting 15min
Pilates: 15min
Stretching: 10min
All done x3/week
Rowing is an excellent exercise. Full body weight bearing and cardio. Plus it is easy on the joints and doesn’t require much balance. If one side is more weak, the other side can help to compensate. I find that it is the best thing I’ve been able to do during an exacerbation. I use a Concept 2 Rower.