"Extreme" does not pose any danger to middle-aged hearts: study

A new study says that middle-aged men who exercise extreme do not put their hearts at risk.

The researchers found that older athletes who do at least eight hours of vigorous exercise a week are no more likely to die prematurely than people who train less often.

Extreme exercises included activities such as fast running or cycling, as well as competitive sports such as basketball or tennis.

In fact, middle-aged men who did not already have a hardening of the arteries saw their chances of dying prematurely halved if they regularly participated in intense activities, said the researcher. Chef Benjamin Levine. He is director of the Institute of Environmental Medicine and Exercise, a collaboration of the Southwestern Medical Center at the University of Texas and Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.

"Being a top athlete was clearly protective and non-detrimental" for people with lower levels of arterial plaque, said Levine.

Previous studies had asked if extreme exercise could be harmful, as some very active athletes tended to have higher levels of coronary artery calcification (CAC), the researchers explained in briefing notes.

Cardiologists use imaging tests to check the PCA rate to badess the risk of heart attack, stroke or heart disease. Coronary calcium is an imprint of atherosclerosis, in which plaques accumulate in the blood vessels that feed the heart.

"In particular, male athletes tended to have more coronary plaques and the plaques they had were almost all calcified," said Levine.

But no study has yet taken the next logical step, he added.

"No one really determined whether it made them more likely to die or not, and that's really the whole point," Levine said. "No matter if they have more calcium they do not die [prematurely]? "

To examine this more closely, Levine and his colleagues studied data collected from nearly 22,000 healthy men, aged 40 to 80, in good health between 1998 and 2013.

Men reported their activity levels and underwent a coronary sweep of calcium. Most were runners, but some were cyclists, swimmers, rowers or triathletes.

The extreme exercise was defined as eight or more hours a week of activity at an average of 10 metabolic equivalents, or METS, Levine said. METS are a measure of energy spent in activity.

Sturdy exercises at 6 METS or more can include jogging at 6 mph or more, cycling at 14 mph or faster, carrying heavy loads or playing basketball, football or tennis, according to the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.

"People generally do not do this for the sake of fitness," said Levine about these exercise levels. "They are more likely to do this for competitive fitness."

The athletes were divided into two groups based on their CAC score and the researchers compared them according to their level of physical activity. The investigators tracked the death rate of participants for all causes and especially for heart disease.

During the study period, the results showed that extremely active athletes with low CAC scores died half as often as the least active men with similar scores in CAC. They were also 61% less likely to die of heart disease.

Those with high PCA scores also seemed to be doing well. Extreme athletes with a high rate of arterial calcium were about 23% less likely to die than less active men, but there were so few deaths that the result was not statistically significant, Levine said.

"Rather than saying that they have a lower risk of death, we claim that they had no greater risk of death," said Levine about the athletes' lifestyles. extreme with high scores in CAC.

The study did not include women because their lower death rates at the average age made a valid statistical comparison impossible. "The trend seems to be similar for men and women, but we can not say anything convincingly because mortality rates were so low" among women, said Levine.

Cardiologist Nieca Goldberg said the results corroborated the advice she regularly provides.

"A very important message that I'm trying to convey to my patients is that plaque may be present, but if you lead a healthy life, it helps to avoid dying from a heart attack," he said. Goldberg. She is the Medical Director of the Center for Women's Health and the Women's Cardiology Program at NYU Langone Health in New York.

However, Goldberg was reluctant to say that these results would apply to women in the same way as to men.

"There should be a study done to see what the results are," Goldberg said.

Levine pointed out that there were several reasons why extreme exercises could promote heart health rather than harm it.

"Exercise, especially over a long period, increases the flexibility and youthfulness of the heart and blood vessels," he said. "The blood vessels are better able to flex and send blood where it needs to go."

It also seems that the patches in the arteries of extreme athletes tend to be more calcified and harder, making them less prone to rupture and cause blockage of blood vessels, said Levine.

So, how old could be too old to engage in extreme exercise?

"I do not think there's a higher age limit beyond which profit is going down," Levine said. "The trick is to maintain a significant amount of exercise throughout your life."

Although extreme amounts of exercise do not seem to hurt your heart, you do not need to do as much training to stay healthy, he noted.

"The best value for money is the conversion from a sedentary lifestyle to an active lifestyle," said Levine. "Most of the benefits for cardiovascular mortality tend to stabilize between three and five hours a week."

The study was published online on January 30 in JAMA Cardiology.

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