Exercise Might Make Your Heart Younger

We have always heard that exercise makes our heart healthier and a new study has proved it. The study has uncovered another explanation on why exercise might be advantageous - It stimulates the heart to make new muscle cells and it does so both in normal conditions and in case of a heart attack. To test the conclusions, researchers gave one group of healthy mice access to treadmill while the other group was given no such privileges. The mice with access to treadmill ran about 5 kilometers each day.

The results achieved by the experiment were quite significant. The mice that exercised were able to make new heart cells at a 4.5 times higher rate than those who were not. To test the relevance of the results, researchers wanted to test the experiment in case of a healing like after a heart attack. After heart attacks, the mice with access to treadmills still ran 5 kms a day and those mice showed an increase in area of heart tissue where new muscle cells are made. So, exercise leads to regenerating heart tissue.  

So, the study has definitely proven that exercising is good for heart and makes our heart younger. The researchers are yet to find out on how the process actually works and figure out the biological mechanisms linked with regenerative activity of the heart.

Neha Maheshwari