Photo: Ketut Subiyanto/PEXELS
Exercising as you age is helps reduce the risk of many ailments like heart disease, Alzheimer's, high blood pressure and obesity. In general, doctors agree, people who maintain muscle mass as they age experience fewer health issues.
by Tim DitmanOSF Healthcare
Guidelines
Each person should have a tailored plan as advised by a health care provider. But regardless of your age, the American Heart Association (AHA) generally recommends 150 minutes of moderate physical activity or 70 minutes of vigorous physical activity each week, spread out over several days. A brisk walk would qualify as moderate intensity (also called zone two training), while running, swimming or riding a bike would be vigorous. Vigorous exercise is associated with a term called VO2 max, referring to maximum use of oxygen. In layman’s terms, you’re breathing hard and conditioning the heart.
“Most of that type of [vigorous] training is at a higher interval. You’re going to get breathing really hard for three to five minutes while you sustain a pace that’s rather difficult. Then you’re going to rest and let that heart rate come back down. Then go back to the hard exercise,” Dr. Rinker explains. “That back and forth with the heart rate really helps to train how well your heart can pump blood to muscles. That’s a really good marker of how well conditioned you are.”
The AHA also recommends two days of strength training per week. That could be lifting weights, using resistance bands or calisthenics, where you use your body weight for resistance rather than equipment.
“I really like the strength training piece,” Dr. Rinker says.
“It doesn’t take a lot as you age to tension a muscle enough to maintain muscle mass. We really find that people who are able to maintain muscle more muscle mass as they age are going to do much better with those health span and lifespan issues,” he adds. “So, the goal isn’t to make everyone a huge bodybuilder. The goal is to decrease the rate of decline as we age.”
On the days you do strength training, aim for 30 minutes per day. Dr. Rinker says if you really want to lean into this area of fitness, consider getting a personal trainer.
Limitations
It’s important to work around your ability and not push through pain, Dr. Rinker says. If aging has brought back or leg pain, skip the treadmill and try swimming or a weightlifting session while seated.
“You want to make sure you’re not going to injure something further. That will create a bigger setback or other deficit that are not going to help you in the long run,” Dr. Rinker says.
The bottom line
From VO2 max to zone two to calisthenics, there are a lot of terms to keep straight. If you don’t want to overthink it, just remember to keep moving. Push yourself with some vigorous workouts if you can, but commit to some form of exercise regularly.
“Most of your day-to-day exercise [as an older adult] should be just basic activity,” Dr. Rinker says. “Think of a brisk walk. Walking at a pace for about 30 minutes where you could still hold a conversation with somebody, but it would be difficult to sing a song.
“If I can just get someone to walk every day, I think they’re going to be in good shape,” he adds.
Dallas, TX - Cardiovascular mortality is on the rise in rural areas of the United States, where more than 60 million Americans live, according to an American Heart Association presidential advisory. Understanding and addressing the unique health needs of people in rural America is critical to the Association’s pursuit of a world of longer, healthier lives.
Today — on National Rural Health Day — the Association, the world’s leading nonprofit organization focused on heart and brain health for all, announces two new collaborative efforts to help close the gap between rural and urban hospital care and bring equitable care to all, regardless of where you live.
“Addressing the unique health needs of people in rural America is critical to achieving the American Heart Association’s 2024 impact goal for equitably increasing healthy life expectancy nationwide,” said Karen Joynt-Maddox, M.D., MPH, American Heart Association volunteer, associate professor at the Washington University School of Medicine and co-director of the Washington University in St. Louis Center for
Advancing Health Services, Policy & Economics Research. “Innovative collaborations like these are key to improving rural health across the nation.”
Sharing clinical educational resources
The American Heart Association is collaborating with the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) to highlight and share cardiovascular and stroke clinical educational resources such as model practices, collaborative learnings and rural quality research findings with NRHA membership.
Through this collaboration, the American Heart Association will submit content for NRHA’s magazine Rural Horizons, weekly e-newsletter NRHA Today and Journal of Rural Health, as well as participate in NRHA’s 2024 Annual Rural Health Conference and 2024 Rural Health Clinic and Critical Access Hospital Conference.
“NRHA is excited to partner with the American Heart Association to share resources and education to help reduce rural cardiovascular health disparities,” said NRHA CEO Alan Morgan.
Harmonizing quality data for analysis and validation
The American Heart Association and the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) are collaborating on efforts to resolve outcomes gaps and identify model practices for hospitals and health systems in the rural setting. This effort will identify sites participating in both organizations’ respective quality programs and cross-promote their data registries, as well as explore data harmonization and opportunities for shared data analysis and validation.
The Association and ACEP share common priorities in addressing outcomes gaps in rural areas and building the knowledge base needed for evidence-based clinical practice. Reaching clinicians and providers and other key constituents with important messages is foundational to these efforts.
ACEP’s E-QUAL stroke initiative strives to make stroke quality improvement strategies accessible for emergency departments of all shapes and sizes. The E-QUAL data submission activities have been designed to allow hospitals who are already participating in the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® programs to seamlessly meet all E-QUAL reporting requirements.
“Through ACEP’s E-QUAL stroke initiative, we strive to make stroke quality improvement strategies accessible for emergency departments of all shapes and sizes,” said Kori Zachrison, M.D., MSc, E-QUAL Stroke Initiative co-lead. “While many rural EDs may be working with fewer resources at their disposal, they remain the anchor of the community’s stroke chain of survival. We’re thrilled to work side-by-side with the AHA in investing in these communities.”
The CDC recommends a booster of either the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (mRNA vaccines) for all adults at least 6 months after receiving two-doses of the same mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. Adults ages 18 and older who previously received one dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine (an adenovirus vector vaccine) are eligible for a booster dose two months after the initial dose. They may select a second dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine or a booster dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.
The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, a global force for longer, healthier lives for all, affirms the CDC’s guidance on COVID-19 vaccines.
The Association remains concerned about the continuing gaps in COVID-19 vaccination among people from all eligible age groups in the U.S. including people from diverse racial and ethnic groups and among pregnant women, especially in light of the Omicron variant. Therefore, it continues to urge all adults and children ages 5 and older in the U.S. to receive all COVID-19 vaccines as soon as they are eligible, as recommended by the CDC and fully approved or authorized for emergency use by the FDA.
"With the Omicron variant spreading, we urge everyone 5 and older to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and get the booster when they are eligible. The booster shots are particularly important for adults ages 50 and older who have underlying medical conditions or any adult living in a long-term care facility," said American Heart Association volunteer President Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, M.D., Sc.M., FAHA, who is also the Eileen M. Foell Professor of Heart Research, professor of preventive medicine, medicine and pediatrics, and chair of the department of preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
"As cited by the CDC, recently published research indicates a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose provides increased protection against COVID-19 infection, severe complications and death. Breakthrough cases of COVID-19 infection after vaccination are possible, however, serious side effects and needing hospitalization among people who are vaccinated continue to be rare and mild. The benefits of the vaccine and boosters far outweigh the very limited risk."
The Association also supports the CDC’s ongoing safety recommendations: mask wearing for all people regardless of vaccination status when indoors, frequent handwashing and social distancing. Along with COVID-19 vaccination, these safety protocols are essential to minimizing the spread of the COVID-19 virus and reducing the risk of infection, hospitalization and death.
"As the COVID-19 pandemic impacts our families and communities for a second winter and holiday season, we encourage everyone to remain vigilant against the COVID-19 virus. The COVID-19 vaccines are paramount to saving lives, protecting our families and loved ones against COVID-19 infection, severe illness and death. We urge everyone to get vaccinated as soon as possible so that it is a winter filled with joyous memories," urged Lloyd-Jones.
To examine the impact of extreme temperatures with and without high levels of fine particulate pollution, the researchers analyzed 202,678 heart attack deaths between 2015-2020 that occurred in Jiangsu province, a region with four distinct seasons and a wide range of temperatures and fine particulate pollution levels. The deaths were among older adults with an average age of 77.6 years; 52% were older than age 80; and 52% were male. Particulate exposure on the day of each death and one day before death were included in the analysis.
Extreme temperatures were gauged according to the daily heat index (also referred to as apparent temperature) for an area, which captures the combined effect of both heat and humidity. Both the length and extremeness of heat waves and cold snaps were evaluated. Heart attack deaths, or case days, during these periods were compared with control days on the same day of the week in the same month — meaning that if a death occurred on a Wednesday, all other Wednesdays in the same month would be considered control days. Particulate levels were considered high on any day with an average level of fine particulate matter above 37.5 micrograms per cubic meter.
"Our findings provide evidence that reducing exposure to both extreme temperatures and fine particulate pollution may be useful to prevent premature deaths from heart attack, especially for women and older adults," Liu said.
Compared with control days, the risk of a fatal heart attack was observed at the following levels:
