Starting a physical activity at a certain age can lead to remarkable results in terms of health and survival. Tips for optimizing your commitment
a slogan that can be – and – applied to various fields. In this case to that of sporting activity. A study of over 30,000 subjects with heart disease showed that continuing or undertaking – and this is the greatest novelty – physical activity even at an age no longer young can lead to remarkable results in terms of health (and survival). The research, conducted in Switzerland, by Natalia Gonzales, of the University of Bern, presented at the last European Society of Cardiology Congress at the end of August, involved subjects with an average age of 62 and a half years (34 per cent women) of which physical activity levels have been investigated over time (for over seven years) by relating them to survival data. People who did at least 150 minutes of moderate or 75 intense movement or a combination of the two were rated active.. The subjects were then divided into four groups: always sedentary, always physically active; that during the seven years of the research they have increased the motion; or vice versa, which have reduced it.
The results
The risk of cardiovascular mortality was 51 percent lower among those who had always been active and 27 percent in those who had increased their sports doses.. Negative, the data, both for those who had always been sedentary or had significantly reduced, over time, sports performance. Which means – comments Gianfranco Beltrami, national vice president of the Italian sports medical federation – that even if you decide to do physical activity after a life “in an armchair” you can do a lot for the health of your heart, vice versa the benefits accumulated in the past, if you “sit down”, tend to reduce and disappear.
The protective mechanisms
What protective mechanisms for the heart come into play? Movement decreases pressure; it lowers the heart rate (and this means limiting, with equal effort, the consumption of oxygen, the “fuel” of the heart); lowers cholesterol (and therefore there is a decrease in the risk of atherosclerotic plaques); it helps to lose pounds and this also reduces the need for oxygen. And the danger of atrial fibrillation decreases. And atrial fibrillation carries the risk of blood clots and therefore damage to the brain or heart.
The role of physical activity
How does physical activity work in the latter case? By reducing the aggregation of platelets, it causes thrombi (blood clots). Not to mention that sport has a known antidepressant and antistress effect and we all know how bad they both are for our heart health.
Atrial fibrillation
A study on the effects of six months of exercise has recently been published on atrial fibrillation. The study in question, author Adrian Elliott of the Australian University of Adelaide, was conducted on 120 subjects – average age 65, 43 percent women – and actually showed that six months of fairly intense aerobic exercise, under expert supervision, coupled with lighter “home” work, can control atrial fibrillation without resorting to medication or ablation. The commitment was not a small one: it reached 3.5 hours a week. The frequency of atrial fibrillation episodes was significantly lower, i.e. 60 per cent in those who played sports, while it was 80 per cent in the sedentary control group (and the episodes in physically active people were even more short). This means: fewer palpitations, less severe, less breathlessness, less feeling of fatigue. And the benefits were seen to last for six months after stopping the workout.
Exercise as a medicine
In short, should physical exercise be prescribed as a medicine? Exactly, but like all drugs, it must be prescribed individually after a functional assessment of the subject’s capabilities. As a general guideline: never exceed 70-80 percent of your heart rate while exercising. In principle, the formula Maximum heart rate = 220 -et can also be used to calculate it.
For those who are no longer young
What kind of exercise should be recommended especially for those who, like the protagonists of the studies mentioned, are no longer young? Not just power training, aerobic – such as running, brisk walking, cycling or swimming and so on three to four times a week, each time for half an hour; but also flexibility exercises (I would recommend yoga, pilates) e for balance (10 minutes may be enough, but regularly, every day) e of strength, a couple of times a week, using weights, rubber bands, specific machines or using your body as a “tool”.
November 18, 2021 (change November 18, 2021 | 17:51)
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