DALLAS, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers said prolonged, sustained endurance training can prevent stiffening of the heart, a condition associated with the onset of heart failure.
Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center report that a sedentary lifestyle, in addition to aging, puts older people at risk of heart failure, the leading cause of hospitalizations for patients over 65 and a condition that affects about eight out of every 1,000 people older than 70.
The researchers studied the function of the left ventricle -- the heart's main pumping chamber -- among 12 healthy but sedentary seniors, all about 70 years old. They also studied the left ventricles of 12 masters athletes, average age 68, as well as 14 sedentary control subjects, average age 29.
Six of the masters athletes, who participate in events from swimming to track, were nationally ranked competitors and six were regional champions. Sedentary participants had not engaged in regular endurance exercise throughout their life.
They found not only were the older, sedentary individuals' hearts 50 percent stiffer than the masters athletes, but also that the hearts of the senior athletes were indistinguishable from those of the healthy younger participants.
"It appears that lifelong exercise training completely prevented the stiffening of the heart muscle that has been thought to be an inevitable consequence of aging," the researchers said.
