Yahoo Finance Treat Heart Rhythm Disorders With Exercise
When it comes to improving your overall health, exercising is one of the most important things that you can do. Physical activity can lower your risk for heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and some types of cancers. Some studies have shown that regular exercise can also reduce your risk for dementia and even increase your lifespan. Now, new research has emerged suggesting that exercise could help address the most common type of heart rhythm disorder -- atrial fibrillation.
What Is Atrial Fibrillation and How Is It Treated?
In the U.S. alone, nearly 3 million people are living with atrial fibrillation. Worldwide, the disease affects more than 30 million, and that number is expected to double in the next 30 years. For those with atrial fibrillation, the top chambers of their heart no longer beat in sync with the bottom chambers; instead, the top chambers, or atria, quiver and beat irregularly. This type of irregular heartbeat can cause patients to feel tired, lightheaded and dizzy at times -- particularly when the heart begins to race out of control. Atrial fibrillation, or AF, can put patients at risk for stroke and has been associated with higher rates of cardiovascular complications.
[See: The 10 Best Exercises You Can Do for the Rest of Your Life.]
Current treatments for AF include a variety of medicines -- some aimed at simply controlling a patient's heart rate, and others geared toward restoring the heart's normal rhythm. These strategies are generally successful, and some patients have their normal heart rhythm restored. Most treatment decisions are made based on the length of time a patient has had AF, as well as patient preference and the patient's overall health status. All studies make it clear that in patients with AF who have risk factors for stroke, blood thinner medications must be used in order to prevent serious AF-related complications.
Beyond medications, there are surgical procedures that are very effective in treating AF. These procedures, called cardiac AF ablations, involve placing electrical catheters inside the heart. These catheters are then used to "burn" small sections of cardiac tissue that are responsible for initiating AF. Often these procedures can cure AF, but not all patients are great candidates for this type of treatment.
No treatment is perfect. Medications have side effects including fatigue, weight gain and dizziness, and some can even cause other more dangerous arrhythmias. Risks for surgical procedures are small but include bleeding, damage to blood vessels and perforation of the heart requiring a surgical fix. In some cases, repeat procedures are necessary in order to achieve success.
Exercise May Help Address Atrial Fibrillation
In recent years, much study has been devoted to better ways to address AF for patients who suffer from the disease. Last year, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Australian researchers reported that a strategy of weight loss, diet and exercise resulted in lower rates of AF and less severe disease. Patients who received extensive counseling on nutrition, diet and exercise, and who also were treated aggressively for high blood pressure, diabetes and sleep apnea, had significantly less AF. The findings that simple, straightforward inexpensive lifestyle modifications can reduce AF rates and make symptoms less severe have resulted in a great deal of new research.
[See: The 12 Best Diets for Your Heart.]
In fact, this April at the American College of Cardiology's annual scientific sessions, even more evidence supporting the role of exercise in the management of AF was presented. In the first study, 51 patients were divided into two groups -- one group participated in high-intensity interval training, or HIIT, and another group was treated in a more conventional manner. HIIT involves repeated bursts of high-intensity effort followed by an equal amount of recovery time. Results indicated that in patients who exercised regularly with a short-term, high-intensity interval training regimen, the incidence of AF recurrence was cut in half. In another landmark study, over 2,000 patients with AF were classified into four groups based on exercise participation -- whether they didn't exercise at all, or did occasional, regular or intense exercise. Those who didn't exercise saw their risk for death increase by about 10 percent, as compared to those with a more regular exercise regimen.
What Type of Exercise Is Best to Prevent and Manage AF?
If "an apple a day keeps the doctor away," a short-term session of HIIT may be exactly what needs to be prescribed in order to improve your chances of remaining AF-free. Results from new studies indicate that regular exercise not only reduces your chances of having recurrent heart rhythm problems, like AF, but also reduces your risk for death. While any exercise is clearly good for us and can reduce our risk for many chronic diseases, some controversy remains. Ultra-fit endurance athletes, such as marathon runners and cyclists, have been shown to have a higher risk for atrial fibrillation due to changes to the structure and function of the heart that can result from endurance-type exercises. However, for most active individuals who've trained properly, even going long distances doesn't negatively affect cardiovascular health. And it's known that exercise, in general, can improve heart health.
Here's how you can get the most from your workouts:
1. Partner with your doctor to make sure that you are ready to begin an exercise program. In addition, spending time with a personal trainer or exercise physiologist may help you design the program that is best for you.
2. Exercise goals should include 150 minutes of aerobic exercise per week. This recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that healthy adults blend cardio with resistance (or weight) training on a regular basis.
3. If possible, do high-intensity interval training in short bursts, as this can improve your cardiovascular fitness, help you burn calories and achieve ideal body weight. In addition, HIIT can result in lower rates of AF and improved quality of life.
