A study in treadmill-running rats suggests
that low-intensity exercise can delay heart failure in
humans and extend the lives of people with congestive
heart failure.
Rats with an animal model of congestive heart failure
(CHF) were exercised on treadmills at speeds equal to
brisk walking in humans.
"We found that low-intensity exercise training markedly
delayed the onset of overt CHF without a reduction in
antecedent hypertension," concluded researchers at the
University of Colorado at Boulder and Ohio State University,
in Columbus.
"Additionally, we found that some, but not all, of the
classic cellular and systemic physiological alterations
normally associated with the development of overt CHF
were attenuated with exercise training," the study authors
added.
"The key findings in this study are that (1) exercise
can delay the onset of decompensated heart failure and
improve survivability and (2) this effect is strongly
dependent on the level of intensity of the exercise. You
can push the level over the edge quickly," laboratory
director Russell L. Moore said in a prepared statement.
"Not that long ago, clinicians were afraid to even suggest
a little exercise in patients with CHF. However, our study,
along with several human studies, shows a definite trend
indicating that moderate intensity exercise has a potential
role in stemming the downward spiral in heart failure,"
Moore said.
He said that exercise in the early stages of CHF may
help delay the need for more expensive drug treatments,
which also cause side effects.
The study was published in a recent issue of the American
Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology.
