Research
Hormonal
Skeletal muscle acts as an endocrine organ that releases myokines (such as IL-6) during contraction, which exert hormone-like effects on other organs to protect against chronic diseases associated with physical inactivity.
Regular physical activity triggers your muscles to release signaling proteins (myokines) that travel through your blood to protect your heart, brain, and metabolism. You don't need to do extreme workouts; the act of contracting muscles sends these protective signals. Consistency in movement is key to maintaining this hormonal protection against chronic disease.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
skeletal muscle is an endocrine organ producing and releasing myokines, which work in a hormone-like fashion, exerting specific endocrine effects on other organs.
Why this rating
Based on a review of multiple human and animal studies, including clinical trials and mechanistic experiments.
Source
Muscles and their myokines
Bente Klarlund Pedersen · Journal of Experimental Biology · 2010
DOI 10.1242/jeb.048074
narrative_reviewCited 666×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Physical inactivity leads to visceral fat accumulation and chronic systemic inflammation, which promotes insulin resistance, atherosclerosis, neurodegeneration, and tumor growth, constituting a 'diseasome of physical inactivity'.Good
- Exercise-induced IL-6 acts as an anti-inflammatory and metabolic regulator in muscle, activating AMPK to increase glucose uptake and fatty acid oxidation, distinct from the pro-inflammatory role of IL-6 in immune cells.Good
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