Gut Health: Doing this single exercise for eight weeks can significantly boost gut health, reveals study |
Gut problems are one of the worst health conditions that make the entire body feel like a giant lug you have been carrying around for days. The gut is responsible for some key processes in the body including digestion, absorption of water and minerals and elimination of waste.The gut consists of a variety of bacteria, fungi, viruses and other microscopic organisms, most of which live in the large intestine. Some of these are considered beneficial and healthy as they produce compounds that improve both physical and mental well-being.However, this condition of the gut microbiome is affected by factors such as your diet, age, sleeping patterns and now, it seems even exercise. A study has revealed one simple and easy-to-do exercise that can significantly transform the trillions of bacteria living inside the gut, and this can happen in as little as eight weeks.
What is the exercise?
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Well, according to the study, people who began resistance training, lifting weights just two to three times a week, showed notable changes in their gut microbiome.Researchers at the University of Tubingen in Germany recruited 150 people who didn’t normally exercise and tasked them to do resistance training two or three times a week for eight weeks. The participants used either lighter weights with more repetitions (15 to 20) or heavier weights with fewer repetitions (8 to 10).The exercises included in the experiment were two sets of chest presses, abdominal work, leg curls, leg presses and back exercises. In order to analyse the changes, stool samples were collected at the beginning of the programme, post four weeks and post eight weeks.
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The researchers divided participants into “high responders” and “low responders.” The former were the top 20% who increased their strength by more than 33% on average and the latter, the bottom 20% who gained less than 12.2%.The high responders also experienced significant changes in their gut bacteria with an increase in 16 types of them and a decrease in 11. The two bacteria that stood out were Faecalibacterium and Roseburia hominis, which create short-chain fatty acids that provide energy for the body, help maintain the gut lining and prevent harmful bacteria from entering the gut stream.While this study supports what various other studies have also stated in relation to exercise and gut health, it is important to remember that it is yet to be peer-reviewed. Additionally, every individual’s microbiome is different and one bacterium can perform different functions in different people, depending on their individual and overall health.
