Discover the Exercise Hormone Irisin

Exciting new research has proven the existence of a hormone that seems to increase during exercise and does amazing things for our health and metabolism.
Called the “exercise hormone,” this muscle hormone was discovered by scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Because it’s a chemical messenger it was named Irisin after a messenger Goddess. Although it’s existence has been hotly debated in recent years, Harvard scientists, studying Irisin announced not long ago that the “data provided unequivocally demonstrates that human Irisin exists.”
Irisin, normally present as part of a larger protein in the muscles cell’s outer membrane, lies dormant and inactive until released. Exercise, and other factors help split this protein, releasing Irisin in the process.
So, now we know that Irisin exists and we also know that when we exercise our body makes more of it.
Why is this important? What does this hormone act on once we start pumping blood and our heart rate goes up?
It seems that the powerhouse hormone Irisin has the unique ability to it turn white fat into brown fat. White fat stores energy (calories) while brown fat is better for us because it’s more involved in burning energy (increases our metabolism) rather than storing it. Brown fat intrigues scientists because it physically resembles muscle more than fat and plays a major role in maintaining normal weight. It also acts and behaves more like muscle than fat, which likely explains it’s ability to burn fat so efficiently.
Slender people have more brown fat than obese people. Younger people have more brown fat than seniors and those with normal blood sugar levels enjoy the benefits of more brown fat than people with high blood sugar.
Obesity, a disorder of fat accumulation, is a real problem in the world today. It is the result of over-eating and under exercising. Increased Irisin levels help to increase glucose tolerance and reduce insulin resistance, suggesting it may be a real breakthrough in treating diabetes.
But, the benefits of this new, exciting “exercise” hormone don’t stop there. Irisin offers other valuable benefits, such as triggering the growth of new brain neurons and activating genes involved in memory retention and learning. It also acts directly on bone, promoting its formation by increasing bone mineral density which in turn helps with Osteoporosis.
All these things are valuable and contribute to our overall health. But another, super exciting discovery swirling around Irisin is how it affects our telomeres. It seems that high Irisin levels are directly associated with lengthening our telomeres! The longer our telomeres, (telomere shortening is a genetic marker of aging) the younger and healthier our body is! This translates to us being less prone to age related illnesses and diseases such as cancer, dementia and heart disease.