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Researchers found that the cardioprotective effects of physical activity were nearly doubled in people with a history of depression. “Exercise was more than twice as effective at reducing heart attacks and strokes in people with a history of depression,” said lead author Ahmed Tawakol, a cardiologist and researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center in Boston. says the medical doctor. Dr. Tawakol said this new finding may be due to the effects of exercise on stress-related brain activity.
Chronic stress can be as bad for heart health as smoking and high blood pressure
why? It all starts in an area of the brain called the amygdala, which is like the body’s alarm system. When you’re faced with stressful situations, like a big presentation or your neighbor’s dog that won’t stop barking, your amygdala becomes active.
That’s because when your amygdala is constantly on alert, it starts sending distress signals throughout your body. These signals can cause inflammation in the arteries, which are the arteries that carry blood to the heart. Over time, this inflammation can lead to heart problems such as heart attacks and strokes.
Getting the recommended amount of physical activity reduces your risk of heart attack and stroke by 23%
To better understand how physical activity affects stress-related brain activity and its role in heart disease risk in people with and without depression, researchers They analyzed medical records and other information from 50,359 participants at the Massachusetts General Brigham Biobank. investigation. A subset of 774 participants also underwent brain imaging and measurements of stress-related brain activity.
At a median follow-up of 10 years, nearly 13 percent of participants developed cardiovascular disease. Participants who met physical activity recommendations of at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week had a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease compared to those who did less exercise was 23% lower.
“Among participants without depression, the reduction in heart attack risk plateaued after about 300 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week. That observation has been repeated many times in the literature. I have seen this happen many times,” Tawakol said. This is why current physical activity guidelines recommend 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week to optimally reduce your risk of heart attack, he says.
Physical activity reduces risk of heart attack and stroke by managing stress in the brain
Stress-related improvements in brain activity may be caused by a decrease in the amygdala or increased activity in the prefrontal cortex, he says.
If the amygdala is like an accelerator pedal for stress hormones, the prefrontal cortex is like the brake. When you’re stressed, you press the gas pedal, activating your body’s fight-or-flight response, but the brakes (activity in your prefrontal cortex) help you ease off the gas pedal.
“In other words, exercise increases cortical activity while decreasing amygdala activity,” Tawakol says.
This led the researchers to the following question: Is the effect even stronger in people with chronic stress or depression? If exercise plays a role in heart health through the brain by suppressing stress-related brain activity, the benefits of exercise should be greater in people with higher levels of stress, Tawakol explained. do.
Exercise double protects hearts in people with depression
The researchers expected it to be more effective for people with a history of depression, but were surprised to find it doubled its protection against heart attacks and strokes. “It was really big for these people,” he says.
The researchers discovered another important difference. That is, the effects of exercise on the heart leveled off at 300 minutes a week for people without depression, but there was no plateau for people with depression. In that group, additional exercise time even beyond his 300 minutes led to continued weight gain, Tawakol said. Researchers believe this finding may be because people with chronic stress or pre-existing depression have higher levels of stress-related brain activity at baseline. .
“These findings suggest that physical activity may be particularly helpful in managing cardiovascular risk in people with a history of depression and those who experience or perceive more stress in their lives. ,” said Dr. Alison E. Guffey, assistant professor of medicine. Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, was not involved in the study.
The authors say future studies are needed to further explore the relationship between physical activity, stress, and the brain, and to prove that exercise causes the reduced risk observed in the study.
Exercise has a positive effect on the brain – both in the moment and over the long term.
These findings provide additional support for more uniform screening for related psychological conditions such as stress and depression as part of heart disease prevention, Dr. Guffey said. “For example, people with high stress or a history of depression may be given more support by engaging in regular physical activity,” she says.
If these findings are confirmed in other studies, they could lead to changes in exercise guidelines for people with depression, Tawakol says.
In the meantime, people should know that physical activity can have important effects on the brain and can have significant benefits for the heart in people with stress-related illnesses such as depression. says Tawakol.
These additional beneficial aspects can motivate people to exercise more because they have a better understanding of what they’re getting, he says.
And they include both “now” and long-term benefits. “You feel good because you enjoy the ‘instant effect’ of endorphins released during exercise. However, physical activity changes the structure of the brain, making it even more protective for the heart,” says Tawakol.
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