How much is so little? Here we tell you what you should take into account.
Do you love to exercise? It turns out that doing too much can put your heart at risk. According to a new study from the Mayo Clinic, people who exercise for much longer than recommended (150 minutes at moderate intensity per week) may be at increased risk for cardiovascular disease.
In the study, the researchers recruited 3,175 young adults and asked them to report their physical activity on eight separate occasions, over the next 25 years. At the end of this time period, they used CT scans to check for calcium buildup in their arteries, which may be an indicator of early coronary heart disease. Plaque buildup is bad news, as it can hamper blood flow to the heart.
They found that people who exercised three times the recommended guideline, 450 minutes of moderate physical activity per week, were 27 percent more likely to show significant levels of calcium in the coronary artery than those who exercised less than 150 minutes. a week.
However, the study found that those who met the time guidelines were not at increased risk.
This is not the first study that showed that super high amounts of exercise can be harmful. For example, a study conducted in Denmark in 2015 found that people who jog a lot, and with higher intensity, actually have a higher risk of dying over the course of the study than those who jog less or less frequently. In fact, their risk was similar to that of sedentary people.
According to the current study, other research has linked vigorous long-term exercise with higher levels of a protein associated with damage to the heart muscle, irregular heartbeat, and other heart problems.
But what does this mean for your exercise routine? Well, there are a few things you should be aware of. First of all, the study didn’t look at whether calcium buildup actually caused more heart attacks.
Therefore, it is possible that despite having more concentration, this does not necessarily put you at greater risk of heart problems. The authors note that exercise also causes useful adaptations in your veins, such as an increased ability for the vessels to dilate, improving blood flow. It is possible that this may offset the risk.
Furthermore, only eight percent of the study population (268 people) met the extreme exercise benchmark, giving them a relatively small sample size to work with.
A final conclusion for now: “The study does not suggest that someone should stop exercising, ” study author Dr. Deepika Laddu said in the statement.
Are you still worried? It complies with the recommended guidelines of 150 minutes a week, since no risk was observed in the people who did.