July 9, 2022
Around 20 percent of people in western countries develop metabolic syndrome – several metabolic diseases occur at the same time – which drastically increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Internist Renate Hagenauer from the Rohrbach Clinic explains: “The symptoms include overweight with fat deposits, especially in the abdominal area, high blood pressure with values from 130/85, a fasting blood sugar level from 100 mg/dl and a disturbed lipid metabolism. Here the body can no longer utilize blood fats sufficiently, excess fat is not broken down, cholesterol and neutral fats are concentrated in the blood and triglycerides are high and HDL cholesterol levels are rather low.”
The metabolic syndrome mostly affects women and men over the age of 60, but the number of children and young people affected is also increasing. The reasons for this are often poor nutrition and too little exercise.
“We know that targeted exercise in combination with reduced consumption of saturated fatty acids strengthens the cardiovascular system and metabolism and reduces the risk of vascular diseases,” says Hagenauer: “Sporting activities reduce the body fat percentage, fat cells become smaller and built-up muscle mass influences the overall metabolism positive. This leads to an improvement in blood sugar control and blood pressure.”
Therapy successes with physical activity
Drug treatment of those affected is often not even necessary. The optimal therapy for metabolic syndrome is moderate-intensive exercise training. Ideally, at least 30 minutes of physical activity should be on the daily schedule to lower blood lipids, lose excess weight and build muscle.
“Particularly good results are seen when those affected manage to increase their energy expenditure by 1000 to 1200 kilocalories and thus achieve a weekly energy expenditure of around 2500 kilocalories,” explains Renate Fuchs, a physiotherapist at the Rohrbach Clinic. “Exercise therapy makes a significant contribution to reducing triglycerides, high blood pressure and waist circumference. According to a study, 30 percent showed fewer than three risk factors for metabolic syndrome following 20 weeks,” says the expert.
Fuchs emphasizes that while any physical activity is better than none, ideally endurance and strength training should be combined. This helps to balance glucose and lipid metabolism. And exercise has a positive effect on insulin resistance. With insulin resistance, the cells cannot process the energy ingested from food. That is why, according to Fuchs, it is considered the “root of the metabolic syndrome”.
Regular strength training can also counteract the loss of muscle mass that occurs as a result of the aging process, but also as a result of prolonged physical inactivity and which is promoted by many chronic diseases. “Two efficient units of strength training per week, each with eight to ten repetitions per strengthening exercise, in addition to endurance training, are essential in order to really reduce the body fat percentage in the long term,” says the physiotherapist. The minimum amount of exercise should be either 30 minutes of moderate activity five days per week. The half hour can also be divided into three times ten minutes. Or 20 minutes of more intense activity three days a week.
