Posted on 12/04/2021 12:56:19 PM PST by ConservativeMind
A new study has found that people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) experience cardiac autonomic dysfunction, meaning that the heart's ability to speed up during exercise and recover afterwards is limited, regardless of disease severity.
"Although it is a respiratory disease, COPD also affects other systems of the body," commented Laura Delgado, predoctoral researcher at ISGlobal. "Its effect on the cardiovascular and muscular system has been extensively studied, but its effect on the autonomic nervous system has received less attention."
The study assessed participants' ability to increase their heart rate during exercise (chronotropic response, CR) and return to baseline values afterwards (heart rate recovery, HRR). The faster the heart responds, the better its autonomic function.
"In the case of reduced CR, our findings were consistent with the literature, although we measured it during a sub-optimal test that did not require maximal effort from the patients," explained Delgado. "In the case of HRR, we monitored patients' recovery for five minutes after the walk test and saw that their heart rate did not return to baseline."
The second aim of the study was to look at how autonomic function related to physical activity in people with COPD. "Here we observed six different physical activity parameters and tried to associate them with CR and HHR," Delgado continued. "In the end, we found a relationship between vigorous—that is, higher intensity—physical activity and autonomic function that persisted even after adjusting for confounding variables."
The study found that an increase in time spent in vigorous physical activity was significantly associated with a fast decrease in HRR (p = 0.044) and an increase in CR (p = 0.021).
"At all levels of disease severity, people with COPD have cardiac autonomic dysfunction, which is inversely related to the practice of vigorous physical activity," concluded Judith García-Aymerich.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
One of the problems with living with COPD apparently can be largely addressed by safely doing medium-intensity interval training, with the approval of your doctor.
Exercise is good for the heart? What a breakthrough.
You don’t have to kill yourself to be reasonably healthy. moderate excercise.
I don’t believe you have to eat super healthy.
Just don’t eat unhealthy all the time.
There is a clinic or several, that uses leg compression “legs” that are tied to the heart beat of the client/patient. They claim that time in the clinic cleans out blockages, and spurs new growth of veins and arteries. They are only allowed to do this on people who have had transplants and are considered beyond standard of care, so insurance will cover it.
Of course they offer services for money to anyone with the want to take the treatment, and people swear by it.
If I had the money, I would pay them. It seems logical to me, but medicine in the modern age, is about making huge profits.
Anything outside of that realm, like this study, is considered interesting, but makes no money. Maybe they could patent a pill that could increase heart rate, and deep breathing, THEN they would be all over it.
ok, late 60’s here, and I have COPD, low-medium, no O2 needed; use albuterol 2-3x/day.
Until I caught covid last year, I did (a kind of) low-medium level HIIT for 20-30 minutes, 2-3x /week.
One of the problems I found is exactly what they discuss, which is that it takes so long to to lower the heart rate during each rest cycle to even anywhere approaching normal that you start to wonder if you’re actually getting the benefit of HIIT.
Do you have calcium or soft plaque blockages?
Then just do the exercise as long as possible at the rate you actually can sustain. Don’t worry about the HIIT.
thx
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No Idea. This Covid/hospital/testing center thing has me on hold for over a year.
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