One of the most common New Year’s resolutions people make is to go to the gym and get back into exercising, but it’s also one that many people quickly abandon. Getting back into exercising remains challenging for numerous reasons, a significant one being just how physically demanding and difficult it feels. So why is that the case? A new study from the University of Leeds has discovered a mechanism that could help explain why we feel that burning pain when getting back into exercise.
In the bloodstream, numerous proteins and molecules involved in maintaining blood pressure exist. One of these is a protein known as Piezo1, a mechanosensing ion channel that responds to the fluid pressure created by blood circulation. Based on the pressure of blood flow, Piezo1 helps to either constrict or relax capillaries and blood vessels in order to maintain blood flow and pressure.
To investigate the influence of Piezo1 on blood flow and exercise, the researchers disrupted the protein in mice for a period of ten weeks and then compared them to control mice. They had the mice perform various types of activities like walking, climbing, or running on a wheel to gauge the differences between the two groups of mice. The Piezo1 disrupted mice demonstrated significant impairment in their ability to complete the various activities compared to the control mice. The researchers found that there were no differences between the two groups in their desire or willingness to exercise, just in their performance levels.
Upon further investigation, the researchers discovered that loss of Piezo1 lowers the density of blood vessels found in muscle tissue. This means that these tissues are not receiving the same amount of oxygen and are more quickly deprived of oxygen when exercising, reducing performance and making exercise more difficult. Stopping exercise for a period of time can then lead to degradation of Piezo1 and remodeling of the vascular network in muscle tissue which makes subsequent exercise attempts challenging as the vasculature must be rebuilt.
This research helps provide more insight into the various ways exercise can benefit the body and its influence on the cardiovascular system. The media and health professionals both constantly emphasize the importance of exercise so understanding all of its benefits on the body can further enable people to make well-informed decisions regarding their health.
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