By: Jean Johnson for Heart1Once again it comes down to lifestyle. The latest jury of researchers reporting in Science claim those who get up off the couch have healthier hearts.
Specifically the joint University of Michigan Medical School, Norwegian University of Science and Technology and the Medical College of Ohio and Williams College study singles out endurance exercise – the good old cardio workout.
In experiments with families of rats selectively bred for exercise over 11 generations, scientists found that the ones that could run as long as 42 minutes had significantly less heart disease than their counterparts who could last only 14 minutes. The team was quick to add a caveat, of course. Even in rats with less genetic predisposition for endurance running, those who trained over time did increase the length of time they were able to sustain aerobic exercise and hence decreased their risk for heart disease.
The American Heart Association offers up a FIT formula for as a guideline: Frequency, intensity and time. For most healthy people the AHA says heart benefits accrue when people “perform any moderate-to-vigorous-intensity aerobic activity for at least 30 minutes on most days of the week at 50-75 percent of maximum heart rate.”
Steady as she goes, though, says the AHA, is what counts and the most important thing is to “include physical activity as part of a regular routine.”
Brisk walking, hiking, stair-climbing, aerobic exercise, jogging, running, bicycling, rowing, swimming and team sports like basketball and soccer that include continuous running are cited as most preferred. But even walking for pleasure, gardening and yard work, housework and dancing, and recreation such as tennis and racquetball are pegged as beneficial.
Fitness trainers know that the hardest part of an exercise routine is getting started and the once people get started they tend to follow a pattern of regular activity. The key, though, seems to be creating a habit that’s fun and particularly suited to an individual’s predisposition. If folks find community support motivating, a fitness center might be the ticket. For those who prefer their own company, bicycling or swimming are sometimes the options of choice.
Once people design a program that they enjoy, they seem to find the time to incorporate it on a regular basis. One executive has a treadmill in a spare room and he watches philosophy and mathematics lectures on his collection of DVDs while he works out. Similarly, a professor put her Nordic Track right in the living room. She works out to the television and so more than the evening news gets her cardio rate pumping.
Pundits also note that developing healthy habits throughout one’s daily life can add up. Taking the stairs, leaving the car at the far end of the grocery store parking lot, getting off the bus or subway a stop early, having a stroll after dinner, and generally doing as many of our own menial chores as we can all works to counteract national trends toward inactivity, and the toll couch-potato-itis takes on hearts that were intended for bodies in motion.
