{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,9]],"date-time":"2025-12-09T04:24:28Z","timestamp":1765254268608,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,24]],"date-time":"2022-10-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1666569600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002383","name":"King Saud University","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002383","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"Background<\/jats:title>Decline in cardio-metabolic health, immunity, and physical activity is associated with old age. Old people also find it difficult to engage in structured exercise programs. Therefore, there is a need to investigate common daily chores as an alternative for exercise that may also help in maintaining cardio-metabolic and immune health.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>Objective<\/jats:title>We aimed to investigate whether Salat<\/jats:italic>, an obligatory Islamic prayer involving various physical movements and closely resembling yoga, enhances the benefits conferred by the current guidelines for physical activity.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>Methods<\/jats:title>A total of 30 overweight adults (mean (SD) age of 53.5 (8.7) years) participated in this study. For a 4-week duration, we compared the effects of Salat<\/jats:italic> before\/after meals (Pre-MS\/Post-MS) on selected immunological and metabolic parameters in serum samples. We also compared the effects of both Pre-MS\/Post-MS regimens in young and old subjects to observe any age-related effects.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>Results<\/jats:title>Most of the baseline metabolic parameters and the count of immune cells were normal. Post-MS resulted in a significant reduction in body weight and percent body fat (%BF). Overall, Post-MS resulted in a clear leukocytosis with a significant increase in granulocytes, monocytes, and lymphocytes. When analyzing the lymphocyte compartment, a clear numerical increase was noted for T, B, and NK cells. The number of CD8+ T cells showed a statistically significant increase. Similarly, Post-MS induced leukocytosis in both young and old individuals, while the increase in granulocytes, monocytes, and lymphocytes was statistically significant in old subjects only.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>Conclusion<\/jats:title>This study demonstrated that the Islamic obligatory and congressional Salat<\/jats:italic> practice is capable of mimicking desirable pro-immune and pro-metabolic health effects.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>Clinical trial registration<\/jats:title>(UMIN000048901).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2022.1009055","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,24]],"date-time":"2022-10-24T07:44:01Z","timestamp":1666597441000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Improvement in cardio-metabolic health and immune signatures in old individuals using daily chores (Salat) as an intervention: A randomized crossover study in a little-studied population"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Iftikhar","family":"Alam","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Riaz","family":"Ullah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Attaullah","family":"Jan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Bismillah","family":"Sehar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Atif Ali Khan","family":"Khalil","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Huma","family":"Naqeeb","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Essam A.","family":"Ali","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Qazi Muhammad Farooq","family":"Wahab","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mahpara","family":"Safdar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Abid","family":"Ali","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Muhammad Haidar","family":"Zaman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Falak","family":"Zeb","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1334","DOI":"10.1249\/MSS.0b013e318213fefb","article-title":"Quantity and quality of exercise for developing and maintaining cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal, and neuromotor fitness in apparently healthy adults: guidance for prescribing exercise","volume":"43","author":"Garber","year":"2011","journal-title":"Med Sci Sports Exerc."},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"189","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(12)61024-1","article-title":"Rethinking our approach to physical activity","volume":"380","author":"Das","year":"2012","journal-title":"Lancet."},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e009173","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2015-009173","article-title":"A Davies T, Yeong J, Steffens DC, et al. 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