Cardiovascular Diseases and Physical Activity E-Book

Gian Pasquale Ganzit

• Herausgeber: SEEd Edizioni Scientifiche
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

Regular exercise can improve the quality of life, reduce major risk factors of cardiovascular diseases, such as levels of cholesterol, overweight, and diabetes. Therefore, patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases, such as arrhythmias, hypertension, or heart failure, should exercise regularly. The physician should suggest these patients the adequate physical activity, safe and designed specifically for his/her health status. This book provides suggestions and guidelines, listing recommended exercises and sports that should be avoided.

Leseprobe

Cardiovascular Diseases and Physical Activities

Gian Pasquale Ganzit, Luca Stefanini

Colophon

© SEEd srl

Piazza Carlo Emanuele II, 19 – 10123 Torino – Italy Tel. [phone] – Fax [email protected]

Title of the original edition: Patologie cardiovascolari e attività fisica

First edition May 2012 ISBN 978-88-9741-922-8

Although the information about medication given in this book has been carefully checked, the author and publisher accept no liability for the accuracy of this information. In every individual case the user must check such information by consulting the relevant literature.

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the Italian Copyright Law in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from SEEd Medical Publishers Srl. Violations are liable to prosecution under the Italian Copyright Law.

Introduction

Several studies have provided evidence of positive effects of exercise on the cardiovascular system: sport, played constantly with mild or moderate intensity, can reduce morbidity and mortality associated with cardiovascular disease and improve physical performance and quality of life for those who practice it. Furthermore, the aerobic type of regular exercise is able to significantly reduce many of the major risk factors of cardiovascular diseases, such as high cholesterol levels, being overweight, and diabetes. For these reasons, in the cardiovascular field, sport can have a therapeutic effect.

Despite these benefits, exercise can lead to some risks, in particular for the cardiovascular system. Exercise, in fact, can help trigger acute events, such as myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, arrhythmias, and sudden death. Regular physical activity, especially if there is high stress on the cardiovascular system, may also be responsible for an unfavorable evolution of some heart diseases.

Everyone who is about to start regular exercise should be subjected to careful cardiac evaluation. The physician’s role is therefore crucial in activating an adequate program of preventive screening to verify the existence of clinically silent heart disease in apparently healthy individuals, as well as, in the case of already diagnosed heart disease, to stratify the risk associated with physical activity and activate the therapeutic interventions that may be needed.

It is also essential that the cardiac patient who has decided to undertake an exercise program be constantly monitored to prevent adverse cardiovascular events and, if necessary, to have the training plan modified.

Effects of physical activity on the human body

Positive effects

The effects of physical activity on the human body are connected to the immediate functional response and adaptation over time in relation to the intensity and the repetition of the stimulus. This response and adaptation are both related to the type of stimulus and the involvement of the neuromuscular, cardiovascular, and metabolic systems.

Aerobic activity results in the progressive involvement of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. The long-term adaptation is highlighted by the increase of maximum oxygen consumption, an expression of the total physical efficiency of the subject. This increase can occur at any age, but is quantitatively different depending on the genetic characteristics of the subjects, the initial state of inactivity, and the type of training undertaken.

Respiratory function is not usually a limit to adaptation to aerobic exercise, and there is no change of the oxygenation capacity; on the contrary, cardiovascular adaptations are more important. The most evident ones are the functional aspects, with a decreased heart rate both at rest and for a given workload, which means an increase in systolic output and, given that the maximum heart rate is unchanged, an increase in maximum cardiac output. The increase in systolic output is determined by the growth of the heart size but also by the reflex effects of trained muscles with increased end-diastolic volume and decreased end-systolic volume. The performance increase is higher than the possible size increase of the heart, which means an increase in the contractile capacity.