Walking Promotes A Fit Heart

Electrophysiological parameters of cardiac health, including heart rate variability, typically decline with age.  Luisa Soares-Miranda, from Harvard School of Public Health (Massachusetts, USA), and colleagues  analyzed data collected on 985 US adults, ages 65 and older at the study’s start, enrolled in the Cardiovascular Health Study.  Subjects were followed for five years.   The team found that those participants in the top-fifth of physical activity had the most favorable heart rate variability measurements; especially for those who walked and increased their walking pace or distance over the five years studied. Observing that: “Greater total leisure-time activity, and walking alone, as well, were prospectively associated with more favorable and specific indices of autonomic function in older adults,” the study authors submit that: “Our results suggest potential mechanisms that might contribute to lower cardiovascular mortality with habitual physical activity later in life.”