Over 65? Walk Faster for A Healthier Heart

A new study finds that physical activity is beneficial for the heart health of individuals age 65 and over.

Using 24-hour Holter monitoring, a team including researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, Florida International University, and the University of Washington evaluated heart-rate variability in 985 older adults over a 5-year period, observing benefits in both elderly participants who reported the highest amount of physical activity as well as those who increased their physical activity over time. The authors also found that increased physical activity was associated with additional measures of improved cardiovascular risk, including a healthier circadian pattern.
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After multivariable adjustment, greater total leisure-time activity, walking distance, and walking pace were each prospectively associated with specific, more favorable heart-rate variability indices, including higher 24-hour standard deviation of all normal-to-normal intervals and ultra-low-frequency-power. Greater walking pace was also associated with higher short-term fractal scaling exponent and lower Poincare ratio, markers of less erratic sinus patterns.

Greater total leisure time activity, as well as walking alone, were prospectively associated with more favorable and specific indices of autonomic function in older adults, including several that are suggestive of more normal circadian fluctuations and less erratic sinoatrial firing, according to the authors, who note the results suggest potential mechanisms that may contribute to lower cardiovascular mortality with habitual physical activity later in life.

Walking may indeed be a preferred method of exercise to recommend for older patients, says Luisa Soares-Miranda, PhD, a researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health, and co-author of the study.

“A broad type of physical activity exists. With aging, however, walking predominates as the major physical activity, and is a good way to achieve physical activity recommendations for aerobic exercise,” says Soares-Miranda.

“If a senior feels comfortable with his or her physical activity—independently of what the chosen activity is—he or she should not slow down, and should try to slowly do more in terms of duration and intensity,” she says. “If walking is the main physical activity, try to walk an extra block, or walk at a faster pace. It is never too late to start and to do more.”

—Mark McGraw

Reference

Soares-Miranda L, Sattelmair J, et al. Physical Activity and Heart Rate Variability in Older Adults: The Cardiovascular Health Study. Circulation. 2014.