Daily 1h Endurance Exercise Very Beneficial For Hypothyroid Patients Being Treated With T4

[zarrin77]

I know exercise is almost discouraged here somtimes (specifically cardio). This is where I feel like we sometimes miss the forest for the trees. We are so caught up in exercise being a “stressor” that we automatically say it is bad, especially cardio, and especially to over-do it. Yet, it really is a mild stressor (especially if you eat beforehand), and causes tons of beneficial hormetic adaptaions to the body. Most importantly (to me), exercise has consistently shown to exert positive outcomes in a plethora of RTCs for a multitude of different conditions and disease states.

Now, I am DEFINITELY not saying we should all be doing marathons. Not at all. But I don’t think we should be afraid of cardio. (However, I am also not going to argue for daily 1 hour cardio, even though this study got great results.)

(Note: these patients were on T4 for a while before and during this study. These “spectacular” results likely won’t be the same for someone not on thyroid / T4)

The effect of regular physical exercise on the thyroid function of treated hypothyroid patients: An interventional study at a tertiary care center in Bastar region of India

http://www.amhsjournal.org/temp/ArchMedHealthSci32244-2575669_070916.pdf

“Background: Thyroid hormone is a key substance in normal homeostasis, having variable influence on cell metabolism on different organs. Hypothyroidism is common, potentially serious, often clinically overlooked, readily diagnosed by laboratory testing, and eminently treatable. Aim: This study was conducted with the aim of finding the effect of regular physical exercise of medium-intensity on thyroid function in patients already undergoing treatment for hypothyroidism. Materials and Methods: A total of 20 ambulatory treated hypothyroid patients were included in the study. Serum samples were collected and evaluated for triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) both before and after 3 months of daily 1 h physical exercise, from those patients doing exercise and from those who did not do any physical exercise. T-test was used to find a significant difference between the two groups. Results: Serum TSH was found to be significantly decreased in patients of regular exercise group postinterventionally (P < 0.001) when compared with nonexercise group (P = 0.43). Serum T3 and T4 were also found to be significantly raised in regular exercise group postinterventionally (P = 0.007 and P < 0.001 respectively) but not in nonexercise group (P = 0.92 and P = 0.73 respectively). On inter group comparison significant decrease in TSH was found in regular exercise group (P = 0.002) and significant increase was found in levels of T3 (P = 0.002) and T4 (P = 0.001) in regular exercise group. Mean weight was also found to be decreased in regular exercise group postinterventionally. Conclusion: Every hypothyroid patient should do regular physical exercise along with thyroxine replacement to improve thyroid function.”

 

[alephx]

Hmmm, it does mention the exercise was in the form of sports and jogging. Three months of 1h additional sunlight daily could compound bigly for anyone. I think this kind of study would need to control for that.

Personally, I do good with shortish, intense bursty exercise (think tennis -> increased body temp for day or two afterwards), not so good with long and constant. So I do see the benefit of it

 

[Hans]

This study makes a good point for being more active. Walking more during the day, especially after meals, would be highly beneficial as well.

 

[NewACC]

I know exercise is almost discouraged here somtimes (specifically cardio). This is where I feel like we sometimes miss the forest for the trees. We are so caught up in exercise being a “stressor” that we automatically say it is bad, especially cardio, and especially to over-do it. Yet, it really is a mild stressor (especially if you eat beforehand), and causes tons of beneficial hormetic adaptaions to the body. Most importantly (to me), exercise has consistently shown to exert positive outcomes in a plethora of RTCs for a multitude of different conditions and disease states.

Now, I am DEFINITELY not saying we should all be doing marathons. Not at all. But I don’t think we should be afraid of cardio. (However, I am also not going to argue for daily 1 hour cardio, even though this study got great results.)

(Note: these patients were on T4 for a while before and during this study. These “spectacular” results likely won’t be the same for someone not on thyroid / T4)

The effect of regular physical exercise on the thyroid function of treated hypothyroid patients: An interventional study at a tertiary care center in Bastar region of India

http://www.amhsjournal.org/temp/ArchMedHealthSci32244-2575669_070916.pdf

“Background: Thyroid hormone is a key substance in normal homeostasis, having variable influence on cell metabolism on different organs. Hypothyroidism is common, potentially serious, often clinically overlooked, readily diagnosed by laboratory testing, and eminently treatable. Aim: This study was conducted with the aim of finding the effect of regular physical exercise of medium-intensity on thyroid function in patients already undergoing treatment for hypothyroidism. Materials and Methods: A total of 20 ambulatory treated hypothyroid patients were included in the study. Serum samples were collected and evaluated for triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) both before and after 3 months of daily 1 h physical exercise, from those patients doing exercise and from those who did not do any physical exercise. T-test was used to find a significant difference between the two groups. Results: Serum TSH was found to be significantly decreased in patients of regular exercise group postinterventionally (P < 0.001) when compared with nonexercise group (P = 0.43). Serum T3 and T4 were also found to be significantly raised in regular exercise group postinterventionally (P = 0.007 and P < 0.001 respectively) but not in nonexercise group (P = 0.92 and P = 0.73 respectively). On inter group comparison significant decrease in TSH was found in regular exercise group (P = 0.002) and significant increase was found in levels of T3 (P = 0.002) and T4 (P = 0.001) in regular exercise group. Mean weight was also found to be decreased in regular exercise group postinterventionally. Conclusion: Every hypothyroid patient should do regular physical exercise along with thyroxine replacement to improve thyroid function.”

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I don’t know if my comment is appropriate, but despite the rather slight increase in T3 in the training group, the degree of TSH increase in them is much higher, which is not good and will definitely stimulate the release of prolactin. Thank God, that zinc supplement correct those changes