Years of exhaustive research have confirmed the benefits that regular physical exercise can contribute to heart health. Not everyone, though, has gotten the message, and many who have received it have not used the information it contains in a beneficial manner. Perhaps a bit more incentive is needed to get more people moving. A new and authoritative study should provide that impetus.
The study, conducted with Texas Health Resources and the University of Texas Southeastern Medical Center in Dallas, underscores the importance of a long-term commitment to regular exercise. The benefits, according to Dr. Paul Bhella, a cardiologist involved in the study, are eye-opening. Exercise, the study strongly suggests, can help individuals defy the passage of time in an important way.
Scientists and physicians have long known that the human heart loses both mass and elasticity as it ages. That exposes older people to a higher risk of heart failure. Retaining mass and elasticity, then, reduces that risk. The new study strongly indicates that regular exercise over time confers that benefit. It does not come without investment.
The study shows that people older than 65 who had consistently exercised four or five times weekly throughout their adult lives maintained a mass and elasticity consist with a younger heart. The study also indicated that those who regularly exercised six or seven times a week could do more than maintain those levels. They could promote new mass in excess of levels shown by individuals much younger who did not exercise at all. That's a goal worth attaining.
The study defined exercise as an aerobic activity - jogging, walking, riding a bicycle fit that description - undertaken for more than 20 minutes a day. Most of the subjects in the study had exercised for most of their adult life, generally at least 20-25 years and sometimes longer. Slackers can take hope. The study suggests that it is never too late to begin an exercise program.
Bhella said the study, presented at the annual scientific meeting of the American College of Cardiology last month, confirms that a man or woman in his or her 40s can begin a regular exercise program now and reap important benefits in the future. Those who do so likely will have far healthier hearts in their 60s than individuals of the same age who exercise little or not at all. Surely, that's reason enough to begin an exercise program.
The benefits are obvious. While there have been significant improvements in recent years, cardiac and related diseases remain a leading killer in the United States. It's no exaggeration, then, to say that a healthy heart contributes directly to a longer and more active lifespan, and to a significant reduction in individual and national health costs. That's certainly motivation to talk to a health care professional about starting a long-term exercise program.