A new study showed that continuous exercise practiced by an individual throughout his life preserves the heart muscle of the elderly to levels equivalent to or even exceeding the condition of the heart muscle of young people who are not accustomed to exercise in an amazing discovery that highlights the value of regular exercise.
This is the first study to evaluate the effects of varying levels of exercise over a lifetime on heart mass, and it was presented at the annual scientific meeting of the American Heart Association in New Orleans.
And she points out that physical activity preserves the flexibility of the heart muscle, as is the case in young men, which shows that when a person is not used to sports, the mass of his heart shrinks with each decade.
On the contrary, the habit of the elderly to exercise six or seven times a week throughout their lives as adults not only maintains the mass of their hearts, but also increases it, making the mass greater than the heart mass of an adult who does not exercise between the ages of 25 and 34 years.
“What characterizes the aging process itself is the decrease in heart mass, especially skeletal muscle,” said Dr. Paul Bella, the researcher who presented the study at the conference.
“But we show that this process is not limited to skeletal muscle only, but also to heart muscle…the heart muscle that atrophies becomes weaker,” he added.
the study :
And 121 healthy people with no history of heart disease participated in the study, 59 of whom were not used to exercising.
In the new study, exercise was evaluated according to the number of respiratory and circulatory exercises each week, rather than their intensity or duration.
The study participants were divided into four groups, a group that does not exercise, a group that exercises irregularly (two or three times a week), a group that is committed to sports training (four or five times a week), and a group of regular athletes (six or seven times a week). .
Measurements of heart mass measured with magnetic resonance imaging technology showed that “the heart mass of non-exercise study participants decreased with age, while the heart mass of lifelong exercisers increased with an increase in the rate of exercise.”
“The data suggests that if we could identify middle-aged people, that is, in the 45-60 age range, and get them to exercise four or five times a week … this might contribute,” said Benjamin Levine of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who led the study. Significantly in preventing some heart diseases in the elderly, including heart attacks.
