Fysisk aktivitet och hälsa: Epidemiologi och mekanismer

Physical inactivity is strongly associated with an enhanced risk for premature disease and death. With more people becoming physically inactive, this risk factor is today as important as smoking in many countries and more important than obesity. At the mechanistic level the focus is on the muscle metabolic capacity/fitness, because it is critical for the development of metabolic-related diseases. Skeletal muscle is an extraordinary plastic tissue and to maintain a good metabolic capacity regular physical activity is needed. High metabolic fitness is a prerequisite for an optimal oxidation of fat at rest and during exercise, and good glucose handling by the muscle. The exercise-induced gene expression is of short duration (∼ 24-28 hours), which implies that a certain regularity of physical activity is required to maintain a high metabolic fitness, which is a function of how much the muscles are used. Even low levels of physical activity have a beneficial effect when perfomed regularly on metabolic fitness and thus, for the overall health of the individual.