For the elderly, stroke survivors, or those with functional limitations, the barrier is even higher. A new uOttawa paper proposes a futuristic solution to this old problem: exercise mimetics. A team of researchers from the University of Ottawa is calling for research into these compounds, often provocatively called “exercise pills,” which trick the body’s muscles into behaving as if they’ve just completed a long endurance workout.

An idea born in the gym

The concept for this paper wasn’t developed in a sterile boardroom or lab, but amidst the clanking of weights. Dr. Nicholas Fabiano, the paper’s lead author and a psychiatry resident at uOttawa, says the idea was born during his time as a medical student. He would frequently run into Professor Bernard Jasmin, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine (then the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine) while working out at the university gym.