According to a new study published in the journal Circulation, proper exercise can reverse damage to sedentary, aging hearts and help prevent risk of future heart failure — if it’s enough exercise, and if it’s begun in time.
Regular exercise training may provide protection against the future risk of heart failure. Image credit: Vesa Minkkinen.
“To reap the most benefit, the exercise regimen should begin by late middle age (before age 65), when the heart apparently retains some plasticity and ability to remodel itself,” the study’s authors said.
“And the exercise needs to be performed four to five times a week. Two to three times a week was not enough, we found in an earlier study.”
“Based on a series of studies performed by our team over the past 5 years, this ‘dose’ of exercise has become my prescription for life,” added University of Texas Southwestern’s Professor Benjamin Levine, senior author of the study.
“I think people should be able to do this as part of their personal hygiene — just like brushing your teeth and taking a shower.”
The regimen included exercising four to five times a week, generally in 30-minute sessions, plus warmup and cool-down.
“One of the weekly sessions included a high-intensity 30-minute workout, such as aerobic interval sessions in which heart rate tops 95% of peak rate for 4 minutes, with 3 minutes of recovery, repeated four times (a so-called ‘4×4’),” Professor Levine explained.
“Each interval session was followed by a recovery session performed at relatively low intensity.”
“One day’s session lasted an hour and was of moderate intensity. As a ‘prescription for life,’ this longer session could be a fun activity such as tennis, aerobic dancing, walking, or biking.”
“One or two other sessions were performed each week at a moderate intensity, meaning the participant would break a sweat, be a little short of breath, but still be able to carry on a conversation — the talk test.”
“In the study, exercise sessions were individually prescribed based on exercise tests and heart rate monitoring. One or two weekly strength training sessions using weights or exercise machines were included on a separate day, or after an endurance session.”
Fifty-three study participants (45-64 years old) built up to those levels, beginning with three, 30-minute, moderate exercise sessions for the first 3 months and peaked at 10 months when two high-intensity aerobic intervals were added.
They were divided into two groups, one of which received two years of supervised exercise training and the other group, a control group, which participated in yoga and balance training.
“At the end of the two-year study, those who had exercised showed an 18% improvement in their maximum oxygen intake during exercise and a more than 25% improvement in compliance, or elasticity, of the left ventricular muscle of the heart,” Professor Levine said.
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Erin J. Howden et al. Reversing the Cardiac Effects of Sedentary Aging in Middle Age – A Randomized Controlled Trial: Implications For Heart Failure Prevention. Circulation, published online January 8, 2018; doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.117.030617
