Regular exercise changes the shape and function of the human heart. Research is discovering that different sports affect the heart differently.
Do world swimmers' hearts work differently from professional runners?
In a new study, I found that the answer could be "yes", and the differences, although minor, could have consequences even for those who run or swim even at a small level.
Cardiologists and exercise scientists know fundamentally that regular exercise changes the shape and function of the human heart, and the left ventricle in particular changes with exercise.
This cavity of the heart receives high-oxygen blood from the lungs and to the rest of the body through difficult and strenuous movements, as if the ventricle was a sponge and was removed before returning to its shape.
Aerobic exercise, especially aerobic exercise, requires a large amount of oxygen to be delivered to the target muscles during the exercises to meet the demands of the large left ventricle.
In contrast, this part of the heart of athletes becomes larger and stronger than the hearts of ordinary people and performs its functions in a more concentrated manner, as it fills the muscles with blood earlier and in a greater quantity and with each pulse the left ventricle returns to its normal shape, where during each heartbeat the left ventricle rotates towards the inside and faster. This allows the heart to pump more blood and faster.
Whereas, most other exercises can restore the left ventricle to its normal shape quickly within a time.
Different types of exercise often have different effects.
In a 2015 study, it was found that, for example, two competing rowers whose sport combined endurance and strength had better muscle mass in the left ventricle than runners, making their hearts stronger but less smooth to return to their normal shape after twisting during the pulse and pumping process. Blood to the muscles.
Past studies have compared the cardiovascular effects of land-based activities with that and an emphasis on running.
Few have checked their heart while swimming, and although swimming is a common sport it is also unique.
Swimmers are not like runners, as swimmers stay under the water holding their breath, all of which can affect what the swimmer's heart needs and its responses.
Consequently, in a new study published in November in the Frontiers Journal of Psychology, researchers at the University of Guelph in Canada and other institutes devised a plan to monitor the structure and functions of the hearts of swimmers and runners.
The researchers focused on professional athletes, because these athletes have been exercising continuously for years, and it is possible that they have increased any differential effects as a result of their exercise.
In the end, they recruited 16 runners from the national team and 16 swimmers for comparison, male and female, some of them specializing in high speeds and others specializing in long distances.
The researchers asked the athletes to visit the exercise lab after 12 hours away from exercising, then they checked the athletes ’pulse rate and blood pressure, and finally examined the athletes’ hearts by following the pulse chart of their heart that showed both the structure and function of the organ.
And it turns out that athletes, whether runners or swimmers, have very good heart health.
Their heart rate ranges around 50 beats per minute, and runners 'beats are slightly lower than the swimmers' pulse.
But all athletes' hearts had a much lower pulse rate than the typical average folks, indicating that their hearts were strong.
The athletes' pulse diagram showed that they had a relatively large left ventricle and were more effective.
But there is a slight difference between the hearts of runners and the hearts of swimmers, when all athletes fill their left ventricle with blood earlier than usual and their hearts return to normal after rotating during each pulse faster and all these changes in the bodies of athletes except that they are with the bodies of runners inflated More as the runners' left ventricle fills with blood sooner compared to other athletes and the ventricle comes back from turning after each beat faster compared to the hearts of swimmers.
In theory, these differences should allow blood to move in and out of the runner's heart faster than the swimmer's heart.
"But these differences do not necessarily show that the hearts of runners work better than the hearts of swimmers," said Jamie Boehrer, a professor from the University of Guelph and director of the laboratory where the tests were performed on athletes and who led the new study with lead author Kathryn Curry and other specialists.
Since swimmers exercise in a horizontal position, and therefore the hearts of swimmers, they do not need to face gravity by returning blood to the heart, unlike runners who stand upright and vertical.
The position that swimmers are in during their practice of swimming performs this function for swimmers as their hearts automatically return to their shape as needed for their athletic requirements.
The results underscore how sensitive our bodies are to different types of exercise, says Dr. Bohr.
They may also provide a reason for occasional swimmers to consider mileage down the road, he says, to strengthen the remodeling of their hearts.
The athletes were examined during the rest period, he said, and it was not clear if any differences in the ventricles would be meaningful during the races.
The study was also cross-sectional, which means it only looked at athletes once. They may have been born with an unusual heart structure that somehow allowed them to excel at their sports, instead of changing the athletics of their heart.
Dr. Burr, however, doubts this. Exercise sure reshapes our hearts, and he hopes future experiences tell us more about how each activity affects us and which may be better for different people.
But even now, he says,
"An message is that all athletes have shown better jobs than anyone outside the street, which supports the message that exercise is good for the heart."
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