Physical inactivity increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, colon cancer, postmenopausal breast cancer, dementia, and depression. These prevalent chronic diseases are associated with an enhanced risk of premature morbidity and interact in notable ways, for example patients with type 2 diabetes have a markedly increased risk of CVD, Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. Individuals with type 2 diabetes also have a high prevalence of affective illness, including major depression. In addition, patients with type 2 diabetes have an elevated risk of developing colon and breast cancer, as well as pancreatic, liver and endometrial cancer.
The diseasome of physical inactivity includes diseases with shared pathogenetic mechanisms. Independent of body mass index (BMI), physical inactivity is a risk factor for all-cause mortality. It is a striking feature that, independent of obesity, chronic systemic inflammation is associated with physical inactivity.
It appears that physical inactivity leads to the accumulation of visceral fat and the subsequent activation of a network of inflammatory pathways – which promote the development of insulin resistance, atherosclerosis, neuro-degeneration and tumour growth, and thereby the development of diseases which belong to the diseasome of physical inactivity.
More movement is critical to overcoming the negative impacts of sedentariness and leveraging the function of muscles as endocrine organs which support metabolic, neurological and immunoendocrine health.
FEATURED IMAGE:
BK Pedersen. Muscles and their myokines (2011).