Working out regularly can improve your overall health and wellness. However, before you can enjoy its health benefits, you need to incorporate regular exercise into your daily routine. The longer you work out, the more health benefits you can enjoy from the activity.
But regularly working out is often easier said than done. Most people lose the motivation to continue with their efforts to work out and return to their unhealthy lifestyle after a couple of days. If you’re one of them, increasing your citrulline intake can help.
What Is Citrulline?
Citrulline is a type of amino acid commonly found in watermelons. The human body can naturally produce citrulline, but the quantity isn’t sufficient to meet your average nutritional needs. This is one of the reasons why people choose to look for other ways to boost their citrulline intake.
You can choose to consume more foods rich in citrulline such as watermelons, pumpkins, cucumbers, and gourds, or rely on supplements since citrulline is common in many natural pre-workout drinks.
Limiting your use of mouthwash can also boost your body’s ability to produce citrulline naturally. Mouthwash destroys the bacteria in your mouth, including the ones that are necessary for the citrulline production in the body.
What Are The Health Benefits Of Citrulline?
A lot of people exert time and effort in increasing their citrulline intake. This is especially true for people who regularly work out and want to boost the results of their exercises.
Making sure that your body receives sufficient amount of citrulline can result in the following health benefits:
1. Increased Exercise Capacity
As mentioned, you can only reap the benefits of working out if you are consistent with your efforts. Engaging in strenuous physical activities for a week and then returning to your unhealthy habits after won’t allow you to achieve your fitness or weight goals.
By taking citrulline, you can increase your body’s capacity to exercise. Citrulline can boost the energy production of your body and effectively recycles bicarbonates.
These functions are essential for working out because more energy translates to optimal exercise performance, and utilizing recycled bicarbonates can reduce your susceptibility to experience muscle fatigue and acidity.
2. Reduced Muscle Soreness
Muscle soreness is a common reaction after working out. This is especially true for individuals who are new to exercising or who recently increased the duration and intensity of their workouts.
Your muscles become sore because whenever you engage in physical activities that require your muscles to work more than usual, its microscopic fibers can tear off. This process can result in muscle soreness and pain.
However, as your body adapts to workouts, the frequency and intensity of these muscle soreness will eventually reduce.
If you don’t want to skip days from working out just because your muscles are too sore, start working on increasing your citrulline intake.
Citrulline can ward off muscle soreness after working out because it enhances your body’s natural protein synthesis. This can result in faster post-workout muscle recovery.
3. Improved Cardiovascular Health
All of your efforts to work out will be useless if your heart health is deteriorating. Your heart is an important organ in your body as it provides and circulates blood and oxygen.
Aside from regularly working out, you should also look after your cardiovascular health for you to achieve optimal health. How your heart functions will start to decline as you age.
You can keep your heart healthy by eating foods and products rich in citrulline. This amino acid can effectively improve the lining of your blood vessels and protect it from inflammation. Blood and other nutrients can freely flow around the body if the blood vessels in your heart are free from inflammation.
Moreover, citrulline can also improve the left and right ventricular functions of your heart. The left ventricle plays a significant role in pumping blood to the lungs while the left ventricle pumps oxygenated blood to all of the tissues in the body.
4. Protect The Mind
Aside from your physical capabilities, your mental health can also influence your endurance to work out. Regardless of how strong you are to lift weights, if your mind tells you that you can’t do it, you won’t be able to work out.
Citrulline also works as an antidepressant, which means that using it regularly can ward off depression and other mental health conditions. According to studies, people who suffer from mental health conditions have lower levels of citrulline. By increasing your intake of this amino acid, you can ensure that your stress levels do not worsen into anxiety and depression.
Additionally, citrulline can also enhance your brain functions, increase its learning abilities, and improve the overall health of the cells found in your brain.
Talk To Your Doctor
Changing your diet to increase your citrulline intake doesn’t result in side effects. In fact, the body can tolerate high doses of citrulline and requires a sufficient amount of this amino acid to function properly.
However, if you’re currently taking any medications, it’s best if you consult your doctor before adding citrulline supplements to your diet. Your current medications might contain substances that can interact with citrulline and result in health complications.