Heart Disease Prevention - What Types Of Exercises Are Good For Heart Health?

Regular exercise can somehow reduce the established risk factors for cardiovascular disease. A combination of aerobic (also known as cardio) and resistance training is thought to be the best plan for reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Click the following link to find out more:

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Can Aerobic Exercise Help Diastolic Dysfunction?

When the heart beats, it squeezes and relaxes. The squeezing phase of the cycle is when the heart muscle contracts and ejects blood into the arteries and it is called systole. The relaxation phase is when the heart fills with blood to prepare for the next heartbeat and it is called diastole.

Sometimes, a stiffening of the heart muscle affects the diastolic phase of the heartbeat, making it more difficult for the relaxing heart muscle to completely fill with blood. This problem is known as diastolic dysfunction, which can eventually lead to diastolic heart failure. As some studies indicated, up to 75 percent of elderly women had diastolic dysfunction. While it is less common in men, its risk increases with age and studies have shown prevalence of 50 percent in men older than 70.

High blood pressure is the most common cause of diastolic dysfunction. Abnormal rhythms, fast heart rate, sudden increase in blood pressure, increased salt intake, excessive fluid consumption and insufficient blood flow to the heart muscles may stress the heart and lead to diastolic dysfunction.

Patients with diastolic dysfunction typically have a limited exercise capacity. They tend to complain of dyspnea (shortness of breath) easily on activities which they could do comfortably in the past. But recent evidence strongly suggests that a program of aerobic exercise can actually improve the symptoms of diastolic dysfunction and enhance quality of life. Patients may begin to reverse the stiffness of the heart muscle and prevent the onset of diastolic heart failure.

Randomized trials in patients with diastolic dysfunction have demonstrated that regular aerobic training (but not weight lifting or strength training) for 3 to 4 months can significantly improve exercise capacity, symptoms of shortness of breath with exertion, and quality of life measures. There is evidence indicating that strength training may worsen the problem by causing the heart muscle to hypertrophy (thicken) in a way that increases cardiac stiffness. Aerobic exercise, including walking, cycling, or jogging, is a form of exercise in which the energy demands of the muscles are met by consuming oxygen.

The latest findings published January 8, 2018 in journal ‘Circulation’ reported that exercise can reverse damage to sedentary, aging hearts and provide protection against future heart failure by preventing the increase in cardiac stiffness with sufficient exercise, and if it is begun in time. The study was conducted by researchers at the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine (IEEM), which is a collaboration between UT Southwestern Medical Center and Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas.

Researchers pointed out that heart stiffening often shows up in middle age in people who do not exercise and are not fit, leaving them with small, stiff chambers that cannot pump blood as well. At the end of the 2-year study, those who had exercised for 30 minutes 4 to 5 times a week showed an 18 percent improvement in their maximum oxygen intake during exercise and a more than 25 percent improvement in compliance, or elasticity, of the left ventricular muscle of the heart. 

Can Resistance Exercise Really Help Those With Type-2 Diabetes?

When a person is diagnosed with diabetes, his or her body would have problem making or using insulin. Insulin is required for moving glucose (blood sugar) into cells, where it is stored and later used for energy.

An estimated 24 million people in the Untied States have diabetes, with 90 percent of them are diagnosed as Type-2 diabetes, which typically develops after the age of 45. And, it could be the result of unhealthy lifestyle habits.

The glucose levels found in patients with Type-2 diabetes are high because of insulin resistance and relative insulin deficiency. Insulin resistance means that fat, liver, and muscle cells do not respond normally to insulin. As such, blood sugar does not get into cells to be stored for energy.

Once sugar fails to enter cells, abnormally high levels of sugar will accumulate in the blood stream. This will often trigger the pancreas to produce more and more insulin, but can never be enough to keep up with the body's demand.

Diabetes is already a chronic disease by itself. If it is not managed appropriately, it can surely place patients at a higher risk of developing other serious complications including heart disease, blood vessel disease, kidney failure, nerve diseases and even blindness and amputation of legs.

In September 2007, a paper published by Canadian researchers in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that Type-2 diabetics, who exercised regularly, could have better blood-sugar control, especially if they did aerobic exercises as well as lifted weights.

According to most doctors and health experts, exercise is another powerful way to reduce blood sugar, in addition to strict diet control and medication. In general, exercise would help diabetics reduce insulin resistance by allowing cells in the body to have a higher uptake of glucose in the blood stream. This certainly would improve blood sugar control.

Besides aerobic exercise, Type-2 diabetics are advised to perform resistance training at least 3 times a week. Resistance training is one that includes exercises conducted using weights, weight machines or elastic bands. Its purpose is to improve strength by slowly and progressively overloading the muscles over a series of exercise sessions.

Nevertheless, diabetics should be aware of some risks in overdoing exercise. The most common one is patients might experience low blood sugar after drastic exercise. As such, patients should have their blood sugar checked before and after performing their exercise.

Meanwhile, patients with diabetes over long period of time, or kidney, eye or feet complications from diabetes might encounter problems when exercising. So, it is better to consult a physician before starting to engage any training program.