High-intensity interval training strengthens the heart even more than moderate exercise does.
High-intensity interval training strengthens the heart even more than moderate exercise does. Now researchers have found several answers to what makes hard workouts so effective.
“Our research on rats with heart failure shows that exercise reduces the severity of the disease, improves heart function and increases work capacity. And the intensity of the training is really importance to achieve this effect,” says Tomas Stølen, a researcher at NTNU.
Stølen and his colleague Morten Høydal are the main authors of a comprehensive study published in the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology. The researchers went to great lengths to investigate what happens inside tiny heart muscle cells after regular exercise.
“We found that exercise improves important properties both in the way heart muscle cells handle calcium and in conducting electrical signals in the heart. These improvements enable the heart to beat more vigorously and can counteract life-threatening heart rhythm disorders,” says Stølen.
Read more at Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Image: Research on rats with heart failure shows that exercise reduces the severity of the disease, improves heart function and increases work capacity. (Credit: NTNU)
