BOSTON, May 31 (UPI) -- Even in healthy people free of arteriosclerosis, age takes its toll on arteries, but regular exercise helps keeps arteries healthy, say U.S. researchers.
Exercise helps prevent arteriosclerosis in a number of ways -- it keeps arteries healthy by lowering bad cholesterol and boosting good cholesterol and reduces other risk factors for arteriosclerosis and blood clots such as high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and stress, according to the Harvard Men's Health Watch.
Regular exercise also helps arteries by boosting the production of nitric oxide by the cells lining the arteries, which helps circulation. And new research in mice suggests that exercise stimulates the bone marrow to produce new cells for the arterial lining, which replace aging cells and repair damaged arteries.
As people age, arteries become stiffer, stickier and narrower, but scientists in Italy found that in people who exercised regularly, age had a much smaller effect on arteries.
"You don't have to be a triathlete to help your arteries stay young," said says Dr. Harvey Simon, editor in chief of the Harvard Men's Health Watch. "Just two to three miles of brisk walking nearly every day will help."
