Just imagine, kids sitting around staring at their “screens” all day without moving any part of their body except their thumbs and fingers as they text their friend sitting next to them. Mom calls: “Time to take your pill!” They take their pill and get all the benefits of two hours on the playground, without moving a muscle – except for their thumbs and fingers of course.
Or picture this. You are sitting in your retirement community, watching TV gossip shows or reality TV all day and the only movement you are getting is manipulating the remote. Suddenly your “notifications” alarm goes off telling you it’s time to take your pill. And instead of taking a TV break and going on a pleasant walk with your spouse, that pill gives you all the benefits of a one hour walk, plus some weight lifting and stretching, and all the exercise you got was putting the water glass to you mouth so you can wash down the pill.
It looks like that might just be in the works. I’ve alluded to this in previous articles, but mostly in jest. And the above is in jest, too.
But what if people who are genuinely unable to get exercise were to get the benefits of exercise from a different source — a drug in the form of a pill for example? That appears to be the goal of the efforts of several research scientists: to develop a pill that will provide many of the physiological benefits of exercise for those who are not able to exercise. That’s the message in an article in the Health &. Science section of today’s Washington Post Newspaper.
According to the article, possible uses for such a pill could include helping people with a form of Muscular Dystrophy, Parkinson’s Disease and people who are Wheel Chair bound.
The pill is not being developed to replace exercise in healthy people. As I’ve suggested so many times in the past, we are built to move. If we don’t, our muscles atrophy, our bones become brittle, blood pools as our circulation slows and our internal organs weaken.
But if science finds a way to genuinely help those who can’t get the real exercise they need, then more power to those in the lab coats who are truly trying to find a way to help those in need. While I’ve found no mention of muscle development or joint movement in my brief research, even helping people get some of the physiological benefits of exercise is worth the effort.
According to the Post article, one of the lead scientists in the effort is quoted as saying, “I like exercising, and that’s good enough for me. People are designed to move. But if they can’t, it’s not healthy to be sedentary. That’s why we are developing this drug.” Let’s hope they can do it.
Thank you for reading.