Betina Thygesen

I was enjoying a beautiful early Saturday morning with yesterday’s newspaper until I reached page A8 in the New York Times titled: ‘Just Sitting Back To Get In shape: Two Pills Do the Work of Exercise’. 

Now I usually never discuss drugs – and before I could even start sharing my thoughts on this subject, I literally had to do something physical, and swept the driveway in front of the house, as I pondered over the first paragraph of the article: 

‘Exercise in a pill’ That’s how researchers are describing two drugs that apparently mimic the effects of physical exercise on the body, raising prospects of new treatments against diseases, new ways to cheat at sports, and new rationalizations for couch potatoes to stuff themselves at brunch.’ 

So the idea is to make the body think that it has exercised and that way speed up fat metabolism in order to ‘protect people against obesity and diabetes’. 

A workout in a pill! This really does seem almost too good to be true – or does it now? 

Fresh air, nature, joy, sense of accomplishment, and togetherness are aspects that are often (or ought to be) related to physical exercise. A walk in the park, mowing the lawn, playing with your children, and COOKING good health supportive meals are things that humans have been doing for thousands of years, things that have a positive effect on blood pressure, cholesterol, stress, and bone density (just for a start). We are overweight mostly because we do not eat right for our type and because we do not eat real food a lot of the time. Now, whether these new drugs might prove beneficial for people already diagnosed with diabetes and muscular dystrophy is another question, one that I will leave to the experts to discuss and to their patients to evaluate. 

‘These are early stages and the side effects of the drugs, particularly over the long term, are not precisely known’, it says in the article. Long term affects will take a really, really long time to evaluate – and let me add, that to my knowledge there really only are very few (if any) efficient drugs with no side effects. 

For a considerable amount of time, I was on drugs. Weekly injections with significant both short and long term side effects. I, like many others with a certain condition, failed at educating myself on the side effects and the exact benefits of this particular drug. It took me almost 3 years on the drugs to acknowledge that I had to assume the responsibility for my future health and to use doctors and science as helpers to be respected for their knowledge and dedication. For almost 4 years, I am doing better than ever with just 'herbal tea and granola together with a daily cup of good coffee! 

If the drugs discussed in the article ever reach the public sector, then let’s be prepared to teach our children and to remind each other that we are all different and beautiful in our own way, skinny or not!