Skeletal muscle is usually seen as the tissue that helps us move and lift things. But new science shows that muscle does much more than just give us strength. It acts like an endocrine organ, meaning it sends out helpful chemicals, called myokines, that affect many parts of the body. From improving brain health to lowering inflammation, building and using muscle is key to staying healthy as we age.
What Are Myokines and Why Are They Important?
When you do strength training or any movement that contracts your muscles, your body releases special proteins called myokines. These are chemical messengers made by muscle cells and sent into the blood. Myokines can travel through the body and help control how other organs work. Some of the most important myokines include IL-6 (not the harmful kind from chronic inflammation), irisin, and BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor).
Unlike inflammatory chemicals that make you feel sick, the IL-6 released by muscles during exercise helps your body fight inflammation. Myokines can help control blood sugar, support a strong immune system, and even protect your brain.
How Strength Training Fights Inflammation
Chronic inflammation is a problem that can cause heart disease, cancer, insulin resistance, and even mental health issues. Strength training helps your body lower harmful types of inflammation by increasing the good kind of IL-6. This version works like a peacekeeper. It tells the immune system to calm down when there’s no infection to fight.
Exercise also helps reduce fat in the body. Fat cells, especially those around your organs, secrete harmful inflammatory substances. By building more muscle and having less fat, your entire internal environment becomes less toxic and more balanced.
How Muscle Improves Brain Function
Muscle doesn’t just affect your body—it affects your mind too. One of the most exciting myokines is BDNF. This special protein supports the growth of brain cells, helps you make new connections, and protects your brain from decline. Every time you engage your muscles through resistance training, BDNF levels rise. This is one reason why regular strength training is linked to having a better memory, focus, and even lower risk of diseases like Alzheimer’s.
Reframing Muscle Loss as an Endocrine Problem
Sarcopenia is the medical term for muscle loss as we age. But it’s more than just losing strength or getting weaker. When muscle decreases, our endocrine system changes, and that affects our whole body. Without enough muscle, we lose the helpful myokines that prevent illness. Blood sugar becomes harder to control, metabolism slows, and the immune system weakens. In this way, muscle loss is really a sign of hormonal disruption across the body.
That’s why scientists now say muscle is not just a mechanical tissue—it’s a secretory organ that’s vital for hormonal health and aging well.
Why Muscle Matters More Than Fat for Health
It may sound surprising, but losing muscle can be more harmful to your health than gaining fat. While excess fat adds pressure to the body, the loss of muscle removes your protection. Fat can cause inflammation, but muscle helps prevent it. Fat can’t help regulate blood sugar, but muscle actively stores and uses glucose, protecting you from diabetes. When it comes to staying healthy, having more muscle can sometimes matter more than having less fat.
Choosing the Right Strength Training for Maximum Benefits
To get the most health benefits from muscle, your strength training routine should be consistent and challenging. Focus on compound movements like squats, lunges, rows, and presses. These exercises engage large muscle groups and release more myokines. Aim for two to three resistance-training sessions per week. Recovery is also important, since muscles release different helpful chemicals while they repair and grow stronger after a workout.
Make sure you’re progressing slowly by increasing weights or reps over time. You don’t need to be a bodybuilder. Even moderate strength training will help your muscles support your whole body’s health, including your brain, immune system, and hormones.
Muscle and Fat: Opposing Endocrine Organs
Interestingly, fat and muscle work as opposite hormone-producing tissues. Fat releases chemicals that cause inflammation and decrease insulin sensitivity, while muscle secretes compounds that fight inflammation and improve metabolic health. The more muscle you have compared to fat, the better your body can defend itself against disease and aging.
So, building muscle isn’t just a fitness goal—it’s a medical strategy. It’s about giving your body the tools it needs to stay strong, think clearly, and age gracefully.
The Takeaway: Muscle Is Medicine
We now know that skeletal muscle is much more than a tool for movement. It’s an active organ that sends out powerful chemicals through the blood, helping the body maintain balance, lower inflammation, and stay mentally sharp. Resistance training is one of the most effective ways to boost these benefits. Whether you’re 25 or 75, every rep you do today is helping your body thrive tomorrow.
Instead of viewing strength workouts as just a part of fitness, it’s time to see them as a key piece of full-body health. Build your muscle, and you’re also boosting your brain, metabolism, immune system—and your future.
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