A Change of Heart!

• Feb 16, 2018  

Change of Heart! Gettysburg Times - Friday, February 16, 2018 publication

The winter blahs got you down? Do you fear your New Year's resolution will be lost and your fate is to be out of shape? Are those just the cards you've been dealt?

Well check your hand again. You've just been dealt the Queen of Hearts.

A recent article in the American Heart Association's Circulation journal addresses "Reversing the Cardiac Effects of Sedentary Aging in Middle Age." The article documents the change for the better in the fitness of older individuals who weren't previously active. The findings of the study prove that we are never too old to improve our physical fitness. Which in turns means that as we increase our fitness level, we can decrease our risk for heart failure.

As we age, our metabolism slows down, our eating habits typically stay the same, and we gain weight. On top of that, there is the tendency to be less active and this can add on the pounds too! This contributes to poorer fitness level in most middle-aged adults. Getting back in shape is not an easy task, but the good news is that we can reverse the effect of a sedentary lifestyle.

The study was done in Texas over a two-year period. The study followed 61 healthy, sedentary middle-age (45-64 years of age) men and women. One group served as a control group and their cardiac parameters were measured before and at the end of the study to compare with the regular exercise training (ExT) group. After the preliminary testing of cardiac parameters, the ExT group followed a supervised exercise program where training frequency, duration, and intensity were gradually increased over time.

After two years there were still 53 participants in the study. The ExT group had and 88 percent adherence to the exercise sessions. They repeated all the tests they did at the beginning and the researchers found that the ExT group increased their heart fitness by 18 percent. The left ventricle function of their hearts were examined and there was noticeable increased flexibility between the beginning of the study and the end of the study for the ExT group. The control group showed no change in the heart's flexibility. Exercise increased pumping volume (or amount of blood being pumped) in the heart for the ExT group. The exercise group definitely benefited from being physically more active. The improvement in the heart's performance lessened the chances of heart failure.

The take away from the study is that sedentary aging is strongly linked to negative changes in the ability of a person's heart to function well. If you don't use it, you lose it. A lack of exercise and loss of fitness has the repercussions of making you more prone to heart failure and other costly cardiovascular disease.

Therefore, you should talk with your healthcare provider and discuss plans for an exercise program. Listen to their recommendations. Start slowly with exercises that you like. After a week or two, gradually add three minutes to your routine. Add time, not distance, as some days you will feel more energized and travel further than other days. As your fitness improves add more time in increments of three minutes, but space this increase of time by at least a week.

The eventual goal is to be able to walk 45 minutes without stopping and without being out of breath and exhausted. If you can exercise non-stop for 45 minutes, three times a week you have reached a level of fitness that no researcher would call sedentary. Keep your fitness up to this level forever and enjoy a healthier and happier life.

Marshall Ritchey is manager of Invasive Cardiology at WellSpan Gettysburg Hospital and can be reached at (717) 337-4495.

For information on WellSpan's heart and vascular services, visit WellSpan.org/HV.