Good morning!
The United States has an obesity problem, with 22 states reporting that over a third of their adults suffer from obesity.
However, America may be suffering from a muscle crisis rather than an obesity epidemic, which Epoch Health writer and nurse Sher makes the case for in a recent article.
For some people who are obese, losing weight using various drugs may be a bad thing because it can cause them to lose muscle strength and mass, which can be potentially deleterious to their health.
Exercise trains the muscles to become better metabolizers. Trained muscles can help balance calorie and glucose use, reducing the body’s need to store fat for energy.
Apart from weight-loss, another condition where exercise can help is postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), which affects 1 million to 3 million Americans.
POTS is a condition marked by an unusually rapid rise in heart rate when changing from a sitting or lying position to standing, causing light-headedness and even fainting. Though symptoms are often silent, the condition can be very debilitating.
Apart from exercise, one of the cornerstone interventions is to increase water and salt intake to increase blood volume, which can help reduce light-headedness.
Be sure to check out our essential guide on POTS!
Speaking of salt, while high salt intake has often been linked to increased heart risks like hypertension, taking salt reduction to extremes can also harm the heart.
Salt is an essential nutrient, and it is needed to activate heart muscles, and help balance fluids and blood pressure, Flora reports in her premium article.
