Exercise and Cardiovascular Disease (CVD)
If exercise is NO-boosting and endothelium-healing, then it really should assist in preventing or undoing the circulatory problems collectively known as cardiovascular disease (CVD).
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Do you know the Benefits of Exercise?
A sedentary lifestyle is one of the 5 major risk factors (along with high blood pressure, abnormal values for blood lipids, smoking, and obesity) for cardiovascular disease, as outlined by the AHA. Evidence from many scientific studies shows that reducing these risk factors decreases the chance of having a heart attack or experiencing another cardiac event, such as a stroke, and reduces the possibility of needing a coronary revascularization procedure (bypass surgery or coronary angioplasty). Regular exercise has a favorable effect on many of the established risk factors for cardiovascular disease. For example, exercise promotes weight reduction and can help reduce blood pressure. Exercise can reduce “bad” cholesterol levels in the blood (the low-density lipoprotein [LDL] level), as well as total cholesterol, and can raise the “good” cholesterol (the high-density lipoprotein level [HDL]). In diabetic patients, regular activity favorably affects the body’s ability to use insulin to control glucose levels in the blood. Although the effect of an exercise program on any single risk factor may generally be small, the effect of continued, moderate exercise on overall cardiovascular risk, when combined with other lifestyle modifications (such as proper nutrition, smoking cessation,and medication use), can be dramatic.
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Benefits of Regular Exercise on Cardiovascular Risk Factors
Increase in exercise tolerance
Reduction in body weight
Reduction in blood pressure
Reduction in bad (LDL and total) cholesterol
Increase in good (HDL) cholesterol
Increase in insulin sensitivity
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Yet again, research demonstrates that’s exactly what will happen when you exercise regularly. Here is probably the most recent research:
Exercise prevents CVD. “Habitual physical activity [such as walking, running, or swimming] prevents the-development of coronary artery disease [CAD],” says a “scientific statement” from the American Heart Association titled “Exercise and Physical Activity in the Prevention and Treatment of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease.”
They continue: 50 years of “studies of occupational and leisure-time physical activity have consistently documented a reduced incidence of CAD1:\rents [such as angina, "Heart attack, heart surgery, and heart failure] in the more physically active and fit.”
Yes, it’s that easy and simple: regular exercise keeps your blood vessels healthy.
And don’t forget, CVD isn’t only about heart attacks – it’s about heart attacks and strokes. Exercise prevents-both.
Prevent a stroke-with exercise. In an analysis of 40 studies on physical activity and stroke, a team of German researchers found that regular exercise reduced stroke risk by 32 percent. “Physical activity is found to have a protective effect” against stroke, concluded the researchers.
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Patients with newly diagnosed heart problems who take part in an exercise program benefit by an earlier return to work and improvements in other measures of standard of living, like more self-confidence, lower stress, and less anxiety. Importantly, by combining controlled studies, researchers have found that for heart attack patients who took part in a formal exercise program, the death rate is reduced by 20% to 25%. This is strong evidence in support of physical activity for patients with heart disease. Even though the advantages of exercise are unquestionable, it should be noted that exercise programs alone for patients with heart disease have not convincingly shown improvement in the heart’s pumping ability or the diameter of the coronary vessels that supply oxygen to the heart muscle.
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Study also exhibits exercise can lower CVD risk factors after a stroke.
In a research by doctors at the University of Illinois, 55 stroke survivors were enrolled in various types of -week exercise programs. Exercise lowered blood pressure, lowered total cholesterol, and lowered tri-glyceridesing in “coronary risk reduction,’ concluded the researchers in the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
That’s right-exercise doesn’t only prevent CVD. It also slows, stops, and even reverses it.Increase exercise, lower blood pressure. Noting that studies show “blood pressure is lower in individuals who are more fit and active,” a team of Belgian cardiologists reviewed 72 studies on aerobic exercise and hyper~ tension, involving nearly four thousand people.
On average, exercise reduced blood pressure by’ 3 points systolic and 2.4 points diastolic. For people with hypertension, exercise reduced pressure by 7 points systolic and 5 points diastolic. And in 12 studies, resistance training (also called ‘strength training or muscle training, and involving weights, bands, or other forms of resistance) reduced systolic pressure an average of 3.2 and diastolic an average of 3.5 points.
In another study on exercise and hypertension, researchers at Duke University Medical Center added exercise to the regimen of hypertensives eating the healthy, pressure-lowering DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to . Stop Hypertension). And their blood pressure fell even more: an average 11/8 point decline with the DASH diet changed to an average 16/10 point
decline with the DASH diet and exercise.
Fats get fit, too. When blood fats are tested, the best results are (in milligrams per deciliter, or mg/dl.):
• low “bad” LDL cholesterol (less than 100)
• low total cholesterol (less than 200)
• high “good” HDL cholesterol (60 and above),
• low triglycerides (less than 150)
Well, fitness trims your fat, outside and in.
The latest thinking about LDL cholesterol and heart disease-it’s very small, dense particles of LDL (compared to big, fluffy particles) that do the most damage. The tiny, toxic particles are called apolipoprotein B (ApoB). And in a 17-month study by Japanese researchers, people who started an exercise program also lowered Apob-s-and the fitter they were, the lower their ApoB. They also had drops in blood pressure, triglycerides, weight, and waist size.
Recovering from heart disease-with exercise. Cardiac rehabilitation is _ standard therapy after a heart attack or medical procedure to open blocked arteries, and it’s always “exercise based”-that is, exercise is the main therapy. •Noting that cardiac rehabilitation programs reduce future heart attacks and death rates from heart disease, a team of Japanese researchers studied 111 older (65 and older) people with heart disease, some who participated in cardiac rehabilitation and some who didn’t.
Those participating had 57 percent fewer “cardiovascular events” (angina, heart attacks, angiography procedures to open blocked arteries, congestive heart failure, and strokes) and a 14 percent lower death rate.
And in a study in the American Journal of Health Promotion, researchers looked at 24 cardiac rehabilitation programs in the US, involving nearly three thousand people.
After three months, the participants had lower:
• LDL cholesterol
• total cholesterol
• triglycerides, a heart-harming blood fat
• diastolic blood pressure
• systolic blood pressure
• hemoglobin Alc, a measure of Iong-term blood sugar control (high blood sugar is a risk factor for CVD)
• weight
• depression (a risk factor for heart disease)
• hostility (another risk factor)
Not bad for the heart-healing effects of regular exercise!
Managing congestive heart failure. Heart disease (specifically a heart attack) can harm and weaken the heart muscle a whole lot that its pumping strength is jeopardized you’re short of breath, tired, weak, and may have swollen feet and legs. This is called cogestive heart failure (CHF)-and exercise can’t turn it into better. UK scientists examined data from 19 studies on exercise and CHF, concerning more than 3,600 people. It indicated that exercise enhanced the ability to exercise, reduced hospital admissions for CHF, and improved upon quality of life (the ability to participate in and enjoy everyday activities) .
Solving the metabolic syndrome. The metabolic syndrome is a constellation of issues that range from high blood sugar, overweight with excess abdominal fat, high triglycerides, high blood pressure, high LDL, and low HDL-. and it’s a threat for future heart disease and stroke. Exercise can help bring it in order.
Austrian researchers analyzed the results of 13 studies on the metabolic syndrome and muscle’ training, and found _that -muscle training’ helped reduce obesity, high blood sugar levels, and high blood pressure, and “should be recommended in the management” of the metabolic syndrome.
“Exercise alone is an effective non-pharmacological treatment strategy for metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular risk factors,” concluded the researchers in the Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences.
Exercise works no matter how old you are. Researchers at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver studied the effect of exercise on people usually considered too far gone for exercise to make any difference: people 70 years old with type 2 diabetes (which doubles the risk of heart disease and stroke), high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. But after three months of aerobic exercise-walking on a treadmill or exercising on a stationary bike a couple of times a week-the study participants had arteries that were far more flexible and youthful.
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How Much Exercise Is Enough?
Many of the studies documenting the benefits of exercise typically use programs consisting of 30 to 60 minutes of continuous exercise 3 days per week at an intensity corresponding to 60% to 75% of the individual’s heart rate reserve. It is not usually necessary, however, for healthy adults to measure heart rate diligently because substantial health benefits can occur through modest levels of daily activity, irrespective of the specific exercise intensity. In fact, researchers estimate that as much as a 30% to 40% reduction in cardiovascular events is possible if most Americans were simply to meet the government recommendations for activity.
Recommendation for Physical Activity From the CDC/ACSM Consensus Statement and Surgeon General’s Report
Every American adult should participate in 30 minutes or more of moderate intensity activity on most, and preferably all, days of the week.
Moderate activities: activities comparable to walking briskly at about 3 to 4 miles per hour; may include wide variety of occupational or recreational activities, including yard work, household tasks, cycling, swimming, etc.
Thirty minutes of moderate activity daily equates to 600 to 1200 calories of energy expended per week.
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