About this Research Topic
Worldwide, individuals are living longer. As such, the number of older adults in society is increasing. By 2050, it is estimated that there will be more than two billion individuals aged over 60. This aging population is associated with an anticipated increase in the burden of the leading causes of death in modern societies, including chronic and degenerative diseases that are largely driven by age-related declines in physiological function. Physical activity is an essential regulator of energy homeostasis and helps improve metabolic health. In fact, it is well known that regular exercise lowers the risk of a broad variety of health problems, such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer in the aged. The beneficial effect of exercise is particularly evident in older people, but it is present in all stages of life, from children to the elderly. In this regard, regular exercise and physical activity are considered key first line strategies for a healthy life.
The good health impact of exercise is driven by the newly established metabolism in people who practice regular physical activity. Being physically active induces a wide variety of molecular adaptations, such as fiber-type switches or other metabolic alterations, in skeletal muscle tissue. These adaptations are based on exercise-induced changes to the skeletal muscle transcriptome, epigenetics, proteome, and metabolome, which guarantee better performance for athletes as well. This metabolism is the result of the fine balance between the oxidative stress/inflammation induced by exercise that increases health and performance and the oxidative stress caused by an excessive effort that causes fatigue and muscle damage. Understanding the nature of this new metabolism is crucial to improving the development of exercise-based therapeutic strategies and is the goal of this article collection. What are the molecular mechanisms activated during exercise, both acute and chronic? Are these mechanisms the same at all stages of life? What about sport-omics (proteomics, lipidomics, and metabolomics)? Are they activated during a single session of exercise, or do they need a repeated number of exercise sessions? Our attention is focused on acute and chronic training, which are two very different paradigms. Chronic exercise or exercise training is a repeated number of exercise sessions over a short or long-term period, while acute is defined as a single session of exercise.
For these reasons, Frontiers in Sports and Active Living is seeking research articles and reviews on a broad range of topics related to metabolic responses and adaptations to exercise, including:
• Metabolism during acute exercise and/or chronic exercise or training
• Metabolism during recovery
• Oxidative stress and inflammation in exercise
• Hormonal signals in exercise
• Nutritional implications in relation to exercise
• Health effects of physical activity
The good health impact of exercise is driven by the newly established metabolism in people who practice regular physical activity. Being physically active induces a wide variety of molecular adaptations, such as fiber-type switches or other metabolic alterations, in skeletal muscle tissue. These adaptations are based on exercise-induced changes to the skeletal muscle transcriptome, epigenetics, proteome, and metabolome, which guarantee better performance for athletes as well. This metabolism is the result of the fine balance between the oxidative stress/inflammation induced by exercise that increases health and performance and the oxidative stress caused by an excessive effort that causes fatigue and muscle damage. Understanding the nature of this new metabolism is crucial to improving the development of exercise-based therapeutic strategies and is the goal of this article collection. What are the molecular mechanisms activated during exercise, both acute and chronic? Are these mechanisms the same at all stages of life? What about sport-omics (proteomics, lipidomics, and metabolomics)? Are they activated during a single session of exercise, or do they need a repeated number of exercise sessions? Our attention is focused on acute and chronic training, which are two very different paradigms. Chronic exercise or exercise training is a repeated number of exercise sessions over a short or long-term period, while acute is defined as a single session of exercise.
For these reasons, Frontiers in Sports and Active Living is seeking research articles and reviews on a broad range of topics related to metabolic responses and adaptations to exercise, including:
• Metabolism during acute exercise and/or chronic exercise or training
• Metabolism during recovery
• Oxidative stress and inflammation in exercise
• Hormonal signals in exercise
• Nutritional implications in relation to exercise
• Health effects of physical activity
Keywords: acute exercise, chronic exercise, training, young athletes, master athletes, omics sciences, oxidative stress, inflammation, transcriptome, proteome, metabolome, epigenetics
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
