Take a sit; can be healthy! Sitting in a chair might do more to lower blood sugar and avoid type 2 diabetes to go for a walk or run. When performing a special type of exercise using a muscle in the lower leg, can improve your metabolic health, says University of Houston Human Health and Performance Professor Marc Hamilton, Ph.D. Are you intrigued? If so, read on to learn more about this simple seated exercise that can lower blood sugar and burn fat.
Don’t expect to break a sweat: The “soleus flex” is done while sitting.
A recent study published in the magazine iScience suggests that this particular leg exercise improves blood sugar regulation better than traditional methods. This includes weight loss, diet, and the recommended 30 minutes of daily low- to moderate-intensity exercise to reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Hamilton calls the metabolism-boosting technique the “soleus push-up,” but don’t expect sweat while doing it. You actually perform this “push-up” while sitting. And that’s the beauty of exercise! Americans spend an average of 10 hours a day sitting, according to the University of Houston, while they may spend only a small fraction of their waking hours doing physical activity.
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The soleus muscle plays a key role in walking, running, and standing.
The soleus muscle is located at the back of the lower leg. This strong muscle plays a role in walking and running, according to very good healthbut his biggest task is preventing you from falling forward while standing. Unlike most muscles that use stored carbohydrates for fuel, the soleus does not rely entirely on intramuscular glycogen. Instead, it uses a mix of fuels from the blood, namely glucose and blood fats called lipoproteins. As Hamilton says in a report from the University of Houston, “When properly activated, the soleus muscle can elevate local oxidative metabolism to high levels for hours, not just minutes, and it does so by using a different fuel mix.”
Researchers at the University of Houston tested sedentary participants who performed the soleus flex after ingesting a glucose drink. Hamilton’s experiments suggest that people can lower their blood glucose level by about 52% with a single session of soleus muscle contractions. The study also shows that exercise reduced the amount of insulin released by the pancreas by 60%.
“The magnitude rivals what you would see in the hours after exercise or any other type of therapy,” reveals Hamilton in a University of Houston video. “We are not aware of any therapeutic approach, not even the strongest pharmaceuticals, that comes close to increasing your metabolic rate as much as activating 1% of your body weight through sustained soleus contractions.”
Additionally, the study found that keeping the soleus muscle activated was effective in doubling the typical rate of fat metabolism, lowering blood triglyceride levels.
This is how you can do the soleus flexion.
Sit in a chair with your feet flat on the floor and your body relaxed. Keeping the ball of your foot on the ground, lift your heels through their full range of motion. Release to allow your heels to return to the floor. And repeat.
Before you start doing calf raises at your work desk, there’s a word of warning. “The soleus flex looks simple from the outside, but sometimes what we see with the naked eye isn’t the whole story. It’s a very specific movement that right now requires experience and wearable technology to optimize health benefits,” he explains. Hamilton.
Researchers are working on guides to teach proper technique without the use of specialized equipment. In the meantime, Hamilton hopes her research will draw attention to the overlooked potential of targeting small, highly oxidative muscles with contractions as a method of improving blood sugar control in a sedentary population.
“It’s like we’ve discovered a new organ,” Hamilton says in the video. “Even though it’s there, we’ve seen it, but we didn’t know how to use it properly to optimize our health.”
jeff csatari
Jeff Csatari, a contributing writer for Eat This, Not That!, is responsible for editing books and magazines for Galvanized Media and advising journalism students through the Zinczenko Center for New Media at Moravian University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Read more about Jeff
