Hormonal
Long-term leisure-time physical activity (specifically vigorous activity) significantly improves cardiovascular risk biomarkers by increasing HDL cholesterol and decreasing leptin and C-peptide levels, independent of body mass index.
To improve your cholesterol and metabolic markers, focus on consistent leisure-time physical activity over the long term. While vigorous exercise (like running or tennis) offers the strongest boost to HDL cholesterol, any regular activity that accumulates metabolic equivalents (METs) helps lower leptin and insulin levels. You do not need to lose weight to see these specific biomarker improvements; the activity itself drives the benefit.
Multivariate linear regression analyses showed that metabolic equivalents-hours in 1994 were significantly associated with high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL cholesterol) (positively) and with leptin and C-peptide (inversely).
Why this rating
Large prospective cohort (Health Professionals Follow-up Study) with repeated measures over 8 years and multivariate adjustment for confounders.
Source
Leisure-Time Physical Activity, Television Watching, and Plasma Biomarkers of Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease Risk
Teresa T. Fung et al. · American Journal of Epidemiology · 2000
DOI 10.1093/aje/152.12.1171
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