The cardiovascular impact of high-intensity exercise
Faster
footsteps equal a healthier heart. Working out harder instead of longer could
be the secret to warding off metabolic syndrome (MS), a combination of risk
factors -- which include obesity and high blood pressure -- that increase your
risk for cardiovascular disease, according to new research in the BMJ Open. Ten
years after gathering people’s baseline fitness habits -- including workout
length and intensity --researchers found that those who reported jogging or
brisk walking 2 to 4 hours a week cut their risk of developing MS by 35 to 50
percent. (About 19 percent of inactive people developed MS, compared to just 12
percent of very active people.)
The cardiovascular impact of high-intensity
exercise versus light exercise has been a longstanding debate, says
cardiologist Eric Topol, M.D., director of the Scripps Translational Science
Institute and a Men's Health expert advisor. While the jury remains out, the
new study lends credence to the high-intensity camp. "Higher-intensity
exercise does have a whole different impact on the body’s physiology,” says Dr.
Topol. Everything is more pronounced: Your heart rate is higher, your blood
vessels are more dilated, and you’re revving up your cardiovascular system as
you would a car, Dr. Topol adds.
The results of this study fall in line with past
studies on the topic: There's some kind of a threshold that you need to surpass
in order to see changes. And it’s possible that intense exercise triggers those
changes in lipid and glucose metabolism and blood pressure, lowering the risk
factors that trigger MS, says David Maron, M.D., a cardiologist at Vanderbilt
University's medical center. But don't
give up your leisurely evening walks just yet. A recent study in Circulation
found that just 2.5 hours of light exercise a week can reduce inflammation in
your body thought to be a major contributing factor for developing heart
disease. The key: Make sure your heart rate hovers around 120 beats per minute
(think: Not quite heavy breathing, but breathing more heavily than normal), and
that you put in the recommended 2.5 hours for the week.
So what's the happy medium? Be your own judge.
While the BMJ Open study found that light physical activity didn’t decrease the
participants' MS risk -- even if they walked for 2 hours a week -- brisk
walking was categorized as high intensity. If going hard for you means brisk
walking, do that until it becomes easy, then take it up a notch. "Rigorous
aerobic activity is really the best," Topol says. So, if you enjoy your
nightly stroll, just make sure you're sweating it out in the morning, too.
The Postgame.com
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