Your feet can help you improve your heart health, according to new findings.
According to research published in the journal Experimental Physiology, just 30 minutes of regular running on a treadmill can help reshape damaged heart tissue. Researchers say the findings suggest that exercise could be just as important as a healthy diet and controlling cholesterol for heart health.
Endurance Exercise Is Key
The study revealed that even a single session of endurance exercise – defined as activities that increase breathing and a person’s heart rate – increase the expression of genes that are used to repair damaged DNA and help remodel heart tissue.
“The genes that are important for genome stability are upregulated in the heart tissue after a single bout of endurance exercise. This may contribute to the protective effects of exercise on cardiovascular health,” said Stephen Roth, Professor at the University of Maryland in the US.
For the study, researchers tracked heart tissue growth in mice exposed to endurance exercises. When compared to control mice, researchers noted that those in the endurance group had increased levels of genome expression linked to healthy heart tissue growth. They believe the findings are similar in humans because the expression of these genes are regulated along a common pathway in both species.
Endurance Exercises to Consider
In order to reap the heart benefits of exercise, researchers said people need to focus on endurance exercises. Some common endurance exercises to consider include:
- Jogging
- Running
- Cycling
- Swimming
- Soccer/Basketball
- Elliptical Training
So if you want to do well by your heart, pick up one of these activities. Researchers said you can reap the benefits of exercise from as little as one session, but if you want those benefits to continue throughout your life, you’re going to have to stick with it. Strive for four-to-five sessions of at least 30 minutes of exercise throughout the week. And as we’ve mentioned before, if you can’t exercise that frequently, the weekend warrior approach also has benefits for you!