Is too much cardio bad for you? Study says probably not

Some analysis has proven that ultra-fit athletes similar to marathon runners can have cardiac injury similar to coronary heart scarring or arrhythmia, elevating the query of whether or not an excessive amount of cardio train could be a dangerous factor.

However a latest research by Colorado State College discovered that whereas some ultra-athletes confirmed some minor calcium buildup of their coronary arteries, they have been nonetheless more healthy general than a management group of people that solely obtained average train.

The analysis venture was performed by Frank Dinenno, a professor within the Division of Well being and Train Science, and Nate Bachman, a doctoral pupil in Dinenno’s Human Cardiovascular Physiology Laboratory. Supported by a $100,000 Packages for Analysis and Scholarly Excellence grant from the CSU Workplace of the Vice President for Analysis in 2016, Dinenno and Bachman labored with native cardiologists and different Well being and Train Science school to look at 25 ultra-athletes in Colorado. The researchers additionally performed assessments of 18 Coloradans who have been reasonably lively.

A paper on the research, “Complete evaluation of cardiovascular construction and performance and disease risk in middle-aged ultra-endurance athletes,” was revealed in December within the journal Atherosclerosis.

Deciding on contributors

In line with Bachman, who performed the vast majority of the analysis for the grasp’s thesis he accomplished in 2018, the ultra-athletes have been wholesome people between the ages of 40 and 65 who had been coaching and competing for at the very least 10 years in occasions like ultra-marathons and triathlons. The management group consisted of wholesome topics in the identical age group who have been getting at the very least 150 minutes of train per week. Each teams underwent a rigorous screening course of to make sure that none of them had different well being elements that may have an effect on the outcomes, similar to weight problems, excessive ldl cholesterol or hypertension.

Dinenno and Bachman performed a battery of vascular checks on the topics within the lab, having them do an cardio health check and assessing components such because the stiffness of their carotid arteries and the dilation of vessels of their arms, as an illustration. Then the topics have been despatched to the UCHealth Medical Heart of the Rockies for echocardiograms of their coronary heart construction/perform in addition to imaging of their coronary artery calcium ranges. (Calcium deposits are a hardened plaque that may be a marker for cardiovascular issues, even when an individual has no signs.) The contributors additionally underwent cardiac fibrosis checks. The assessments have been performed between summer time 2017 and the tip of 2018.

By most measures, similar to stiffness of the aorta and the elasticity and thickness of the carotid artery, the ultra-athletes had higher cardiovascular well being than the management group, and not one of the topics had any scarring on their hearts. However eight of the ultra-athletes had calcium deposits of their arteries, whereas solely two within the management group had such deposits.

Total well being findings

Despite the fact that a better share of the ultra-athletes had calcium deposits, their general cardiovascular well being was nonetheless higher than these within the management group, main the workforce to conclude that excessive quantities of cardio usually are not deleterious to at least one’s well being.

When different danger elements similar to blood stress, ldl cholesterol and age have been used together with the calcium rating to find out coronary heart illness danger, a lot of the athletes have been under the edge for statin remedy.

The researchers plugged all of their knowledge right into a danger calculator for coronary coronary heart illness and located that the ultra-athletes weren’t at greater danger than the control group.

“We did not discover proof that might make us suggest that folks not train an excessive amount of,” Bachman stated. “The general advantages of train outweigh something we noticed.”

The researchers added, nonetheless, that some individuals could produce other well being elements, similar to a household historical past of coronary heart illness, that they need to focus on with their physician earlier than changing into ultra-athletes.

“There are in all probability some individuals who should not be doing this a lot train,” Bachman stated.

Extra widespread in males

Seven of the eight ultra-athletes who had calcium deposits have been males, which Dinenno and Bachman say is in step with different research which have proven that calcium tends to point out up earlier and at greater ranges in males than in girls.

“Along with serving to us perceive some primary and medical cardiovascular physiology of ultra-endurance athletes, this was a real collaborative effort with the UCHealth Coronary heart and Vascular Heart,” stated Barry Braun, a co-author and head of the Division of Well being and Train Science. “We labored collectively, from asking the preliminary questions, to creating subtle measurement of cardiac construction and performance, to modifying the ultimate manuscript.”

Along with Braun, the researchers’ co-authors on the paper have been doctoral pupil/alumna Janée Terwoord, Assistant Professor Jennifer Richards, in addition to Dr. Patrick Inexperienced and Dr. Gary Luckasen, each of whom are cardiologists on the Medical Heart of the Rockies.

Bachman stated he realized rather a lot in the course of the collaborative research.

“I used to be very inexperienced at the start of this course of,” he stated. “This venture actually threw me into the analysis world. It was plenty of work on everybody’s half, and it was actually a bunch effort.”

What the workforce measured

• Coronary artery calcium scores: hardened plaque within the coronary arteries; knowledge collected utilizing a cardiac CT scan. This measure is normally used within the medical setting as a screening approach for asymptomatic people over 40 who’ve intermediate coronary artery illness danger.
• Echocardiography: construction and performance of the center, measured with ultrasound. That is used for medical evaluation to determine illness like coronary heart failure or valve dysfunction.
• Myocardial fibrosis: scarring of coronary heart tissue; measured with cardiac MRI. This method will not be routinely utilized in medical settings, however has been associated to cardiac occasions in some affected person teams.
• Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity: a measure of aortic stiffness, measured with specialised laboratory gear. That is an unbiased predictor of cardiac occasions like coronary heart illness and stroke.
• Carotid compliance: basically the other of stiffness (greater compliance is best), measured with ultrasound. It is a good measurement to know how blood vessel perform is completely different between two teams.
• Carotid intima-media thickness: thickness of the carotid artery wall. It’s measured with ultrasound, and it is usually predictive of cardiac occasion danger and might be elevated because of arterial plaque accumulation.
• Brachial artery endothelial perform—modifications in artery diameter in response to a rise in blood movement. It’s independently predictive of cardiac occasion danger and might be lowered in populations in danger for heart problems.