Girls do aerobics for 2 hours every day, which causes muscle dissolution. It is really dangerous if you do it wrong! How to exercise scientifically?

Regular exercise is good for health, but the more you exercise, the healthier you are. Recently, the news #girls do aerobics for 2 hours a day and their muscles dissolve# has become a hot topic.

Xiao Zhu from Shaoxing, Zhejiang, has to sit for long periods of time due to the nature of his job. After returning home at night, he would follow the video to do exercises. At first, he did it for 2 hours a day and did not feel any discomfort, but after a few days, Xiao Zhu increased the amount of exercise and began to feel soreness in the muscles of his lower limbs. After that, the symptoms became more and more serious, and the color of his urine turned into soy sauce. After the doctor examined him, he learned that Xiao Zhu might have rhabdomyolysis syndrome.

▲Photo: Sina Weibo

Many people are unfamiliar with this disease, and they don't even think that exercising every day can actually make the body unhealthy. This has made many netizens start to get uneasy. It seems that exercise can't be done randomly. How should we exercise?

1. What is rhabdomyolysis?

Rhabdomyolysis is an acute, potentially fatal syndrome caused by necrosis of skeletal muscle cells due to various reasons.

The decomposition of striated muscle and the subsequent release of muscle cell contents into the blood circulation, the sudden release of large amounts of myoglobin, creatine kinase, electrolytes, etc. into the blood can cause acute kidney injury, leading to acute renal dysfunction and abnormal urine color, such as soy sauce color; it can also lead to electrolyte imbalance, shock and even death.

2. Why does exercise cause rhabdomyolysis?

Image by Scott Webb from Pixabay

People who do not exercise regularly and suddenly exercise a lot may develop rhabdomyolysis and elevated myoglobin. The severity of the disease is related to the duration, intensity and affected area of ​​the exercise.

However, the specific pathogenesis of exercise-induced rhabdomyolysis is still unclear, but it may be related to muscle damage and energy consumption.

In addition, severe trauma such as electric shock, fractures, burns, acute myocardial ischemia, bacterial and parasitic infections can also lead to rhabdomyolysis.

However, we should not give up exercise because of individual cases. Scientific and reasonable exercise is good for health!

3. What are the benefits of exercise?

The benefits of exercise are not only to control weight, but many studies have shown that regular exercise can also promote sleep, protect the heart, improve depression, and prevent hemorrhoids.

In addition, new research shows that regular exercise also has anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects.

A recent study published in the "International Journal of Cancer" in February 2022 showed that exercise can fight cancer. Persisting in moderate-intensity aerobic exercise can release interleukin-6 (IL-6), which has anti-cancer effects, into the blood, helping to repair damaged DNA, slow the growth of cancer cells, and reduce the risk of cancer.

4. How to exercise scientifically?

Scientific exercise will not cause rhabdomyolysis. Although "life lies in exercise and exercise is good for health", safety must come first.

First of all, for those who have no exercise habits, they should proceed step by step, gradually increase the amount of exercise, and keep the continuous exercise time within 1 hour, while avoiding strenuous exercise.

Secondly, you should do things within your ability and don't force yourself to do excessive exercise. Combine work and rest and arrange rest time reasonably.

In addition, you should pay attention to replenishing water during exercise and avoid extensive exercise in a stuffy room or under direct sunlight.

According to the recommendations in the 2022 edition of the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents", it is recommended that adults engage in moderate-intensity exercise at least 5 days a week, accumulating more than 150 minutes, and perform 6,000 steps of active physical activity every day.

Encourage appropriate high-intensity aerobic exercise and resistance exercise 2 to 3 days a week. At the same time, avoid sitting for long periods of time and get up and move every hour.

It is recommended to do aerobic exercise for 15 to 20 minutes every day. Aerobic exercise refers to physical exercise performed by the human body with sufficient oxygen supply, that is, low-intensity and long-term exercise, with the heart rate kept within 150 beats/minute. For example, jogging, brisk walking, slow swimming, cycling and other exercises.

Anaerobic exercise should be performed 2 to 3 days a week, 8 to 10 movements per day, 3 sets of each movement, and 8 to 15 repetitions per set. Resistance exercise for the same muscle group should be performed every other day, and not every day, to avoid fatigue and injury due to insufficient recovery.

Anaerobic exercise, also known as resistance exercise, refers to the exercise performed by human muscles without anaerobic energy supply metabolism. The load intensity is high and prolonged exercise will lead to lactic acid accumulation and muscle soreness. For example, dumbbells, sandbags, boxing, elastic bands, weightlifting, 100-meter sprints, fast swimming and other exercises.

In addition, it is also recommended to perform appropriate flexibility exercises, such as Tai Chi, yoga, etc.

Exercise tips:

Skipping rope is very helpful for weight loss and burns a lot of calories.

Skipping rope at a moderate speed for half an hour can consume 200-250 kcal of calories, which is equivalent to half a meal for an average woman. To lose 1 kg of fat, you need to burn 7700 kcal of energy.

If there is no major change in diet, but just add rope skipping as an exercise, and you insist on rope skipping at a medium speed for half an hour every day for a month, you will consume 6000kcal~7500kcal and lose almost 2 kilograms of fat.

This number is quite a lot for pure fat, and the effect will be more obvious if you adjust your diet.

But many people worry that frequent rope skipping will hurt the knee joints, so don't skip rope blindly. When skipping rope, you should pay attention to:

① Stretch before skipping rope: move the joints of the whole body to reduce and avoid muscle strain during skipping rope.

② Lay elastic plastic on the ground: it can reduce the impact between the body and the ground during skipping, protect the knees and joints, and avoid calf and ankle pain.

③ Wear comfortable sports shoes: It is best to wear sports shoes with softer soles. Do not wear shoes with too hard soles or wear no shoes at all.

④ Do not jump rope on an empty stomach: to avoid the danger of hypoglycemia during the process.

⑤ After skipping rope, you should also pay attention to stretching: it can relax the leg muscles and avoid calf soreness the next day.

Summarize:

It is recommended that you develop a habit of exercising every day, but the key is to do it within your ability! You must pay attention to the way and method of exercise, and don't rush it.

References:

[1] Zheng Ning, Zhang Yongli. Clinical research progress of rhabdomyolysis[J]. Journal of Dalian Medical University, 2019, 41(01): 77-80+88.

[2] Meng Danni, Guo Mengying, Xiao Junjie, et al. Life lies in exercise: the improvement of heart and metabolism by exercise[J]. Nature, 2020, 42(1): 66-74. DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.0253-9608.2020.01.008.

[3] Zhao Hongqin. Experimental study on the effect of exercise on improving sleep disorders[J]. Zhejiang Sports Science, 2006, 28(5):89-92. DOI:10.3969/j.issn.1004-3624.2006.05.031.

[4] Ma Kun, Liu Jinmei, Fu Cuiyuan, et al. Research progress on the intervention effect and mechanism of exercise on depression[J]. Chinese Journal of Sports Science and Technology, 2020, 56(11): 13-24. DOI: 10.16470/j.csst.2020132.

[5] Orange, Sam & Jordan, Alistair & Odell, Adam & Kavanagh, Owen & Hicks, Kirsty & Eaglen, Tristan & Todryk, Stephen & Saxton, John. (2022). Acute aerobic exercise-conditioned serum reduces colon cancer cell proliferation in vitro through interleukin-6-induced regulation of DNA damage. International Journal of Cancer. 10.1002/ijc.33982.

[6] Chinese Nutrition Society. Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents[M]. People's Medical Publishing House. 2022

Part of this article was first published on the official website of the Chinese Medical Association

https://www.cma.org.cn/art/2022/6/17/art_4584_45515.html