Exercise

How Much Exercise Is Needed to Keep the Heart Young?

Exercising 4 to 5 times may reduce central arterial stiffness and help keep the heart young compared with a more sedentary lifestyle, according to new study findings.

However, the authors of the study also found that exercising 2 to 3 times per week throughout one’s lifetime is associated with decreased ventricular afterload and peripheral resistance in older age compared with a sedentary lifestyle, suggesting that even casual exercise may help minimize heart aging.

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For their study, the researchers assessed 102 participants aged older than 60 years who had engaged in consistent, lifelong exercise.

Participants were categorized based on exercise frequency as an index of exercise “dose”:

  • Sedentary (less than 2 sessions per week)
  • Casual exercisers (2 to 3 sessions per week)
  • Committed exercisers (4 to 5 sessions per week)
  • Master athletes (6 to 7 sessions per week)

Ultimately, the researchers found that biological aortic age and central pulse wave velocity appeared younger in participants classified as committed exercisers and master athletes compared with those who were sedentary throughout their lives.

Findings also indicated that, while total arterial compliance (TACi) was lower in sedentary seniors compared with other groups, Carotid β‐stiffness index and Eai (effective arterial elastance) were higher in participants with a sedentary lifestyle compared with those with a more active one. This association between exercise and carotid β‐stiffness index and TACi appeared to have a dose-response threshold.

The researchers observed no significant between-group differences in regard to peripheral arterial stiffness.

“These data suggest that [4 to 5] weekly exercise sessions over a lifetime is associated with reduced central arterial stiffness in the elderly,” the researchers concluded. “A less frequent dose of lifelong exercise ([2 to 3 sessions per week]) is associated with decreased ventricular afterload and peripheral resistance, while peripheral arterial stiffness is unaffected by any dose of exercise.”

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Shibata S, Fujimoto N, Hastings JL, et al. The effect of lifelong exercise frequency on arterial stiffness [Published online May 20, 2018]. J Physiol. https://doi.org/10.1113/JP275301