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[Exercise promotes healthy cardiovascular aging]
Min Li1, Meng-Ya Feng1,2, Zi-Hang Feng1
1Department of Aerospace Medicine, Air Force Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China.
Insights
Regular exercise promotes healthy cardiovascular aging by improving heart structure and function. It enhances mitochondrial function and reduces inflammation, lowering cardiovascular disease risk in older adults.
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Cardiology
- Exercise Physiology
Background:
- Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk significantly increases in the elderly due to age-related cardiovascular structural and functional changes.
- Cardiac aging involves increased ventricular wall thickness, fibrosis, stiffness, and reduced function, while vascular aging presents with lumen enlargement, wall thickening, and endothelial dysfunction.
- Promoting healthy cardiovascular aging aims to mitigate age-related dysfunction and reduce CVD incidence.
Approach:
- This review explores the mechanisms by which exercise promotes healthy cardiovascular aging.
- It examines exercise's role in cardiovascular disease treatment and rehabilitation.
- The review highlights the importance of understanding exercise-induced cardiovascular benefits for developing targeted exercise prescriptions.
Key Points:
- Exercise counteracts cardiovascular aging by remodeling cardiac structure, enhancing heart resilience, and reducing CVD risk factors.
- Improved mitochondrial function is a key mechanism mediating exercise's cardioprotective effects.
- Exercise stimulates the release of beneficial exerkines, which reduce inflammation, improve metabolism, and inhibit apoptosis, thereby supporting cardiovascular health.
Conclusions:
- Exercise is a vital intervention for promoting healthy cardiovascular aging and preventing CVD in older populations.
- Further research into the specific molecular pathways of exercise-induced cardiovascular benefits is crucial.
- Developing precise exercise prescriptions tailored to different demographics is essential for optimizing cardiovascular health in aging individuals.
Abstract:
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is an important factor threatening the health of the elderly. Aging leads to changes in the structure and function of the cardiovascular system, which increases the risk of CVD in the elderly. Cardiac aging is characterized by increased left ventricular wall thickness, increased degree of myocardial fibrosis, increased cardiac hardness, and decreased cardiac function, while vascular aging is characterized by enlarged lumen, thickened wall, and endothelial dysfunction. Promoting healthy cardiovascular aging means reducing the age-related cardiovascular dysfunction and the risks of CVD. Exercise is a crucial means for the treatment and rehabilitation of CVD. Exercise reduces the risk factors of CVD, remodels the cardiovascular structure, and increases the resistance of heart to detrimental stimulus, which promotes healthy cardiovascular aging. The improved mitochondrial function via exercise plays a key role in the health effects of exercise. In addition, exercise promotes the secretion of exerkines in various tissues and organs, which plays a role in reducing inflammation, improving metabolism, inhibiting apoptosis, etc., thus benefiting cardiovascular health. This review discusses the mechanism and potential application of exercise in promoting healthy cardiovascular aging. Exploring the specific mechanisms underlying exercise-induced cardiovascular health and formulating accurate exercise prescriptions for different populations is an important direction to promote healthy cardiovascular aging and prevent CVD.
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