More strenuous exercise is not the better, and doing too much will hurt the body. (imtmphoto/Shutterstock)
It is generally known that moderate physical activity can improve health, reduce disease risk, and increase life expectancy. But there is a kind of exercise that, under certain conditions, may have the opposite effect-vigorous exercise.
To measure the intensity of exercise, there is an indicator called MET.1METRefers to the energy expended by a person while sitting still. MET values can indicatedifferent exercise intensities。
● Inactivity – MET value ≤ 1.5: eg sitting or lying down.
● Low-intensity exercise – MET value 1.6 ~ 3.0: eg leisurely walking or queuing at the store.
● Moderate-intensity exercise – MET value 3.0 to 6.0: eg brisk walking, vacuuming or gardening.
● High-intensity/vigorous exercise – MET value ≥ 6.0.
Among them, high-intensity/vigorous exercise, in addition to race walking, running, and rope skipping,Also includesMarathons, triathlons, alpine or cross-country skiing, ball sports like basketball, ice hockey, lacrosse, rugby and handball, and high-intensity interval training.
General running and walking and other sports, as the speed increases, its intensity also increases. “Vigorous exercise could be a brisk walk at 4.5 miles per hour, a jog at 5 miles per hour, or a run at 5.5 miles per hour,” said William Bo, director of preventive cardiology and cardiac rehabilitation at the Beaumont Health Center in Royal Oak, Michigan, and director of cardiac rehabilitation at the University of Oakland. Barry A. Franklin, professor of internal medicine at Mount Medical College, introduced it in an interview with The Epoch Times.
The concept of vigorous exercise varies according to age and individual health status. Franklin reminded, “Even if some exercises seem less strenuous, if the subject is an 80-year-old man, it is strenuous for him.”
Although regular exercisemany benefits: It can improve blood lipids, control insulin resistance, reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, reduce the morbidity and mortality of cardiovascular disease, exercise can also improve people’shappiness and life expectancy. However, in some cases, vigorous exercise may diminish this benefit and carry life-threatening risks.
Excessive strenuous exercise can lead to cardiovascular disease
Compared with low-intensity exercise, vigorous exercise has fewer overall cardiovascular benefits and can contribute to cardiovascular disease.
Vigorous exercise can cause increases in heart rate and blood pressure, which can lead to irregular heartbeats, or a heart attack, Franklin said. Especially for those with known or underlying heart disease—this includes people with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, blocked coronary arteries, structural heart problems, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, high-intensity exercise May be fatal.
A study of 1,228 patients with myocardial infarction published in the “New England Journal of Medicine” in earlier years pointed out that within one hour after strenuous exercise, the risk of a person’s myocardial infarction is lower than that of activity or rest.5.9times. Another study in the “American Journal of Epidemiology” also found that compared with lower levels of physical activity or rest, the relative risk of myocardial infarction caused by intense exercise was 100%.6.1times.
Another study of 1,098 healthy runners and 3,950 healthy non-runners in Denmarkprospective studyshowed that compared with sedentary runners, slow runners had a 49% lower risk of death and moderate runners had a 62% lower risk of death, while it is noteworthy that the risk of death in fast runners was significantly higher than that of sedentary runners. The immobile non-runners were almost the same (only 6% lower). After adjustment, the all-cause mortality rate of moderate runners was three times that of slow runners, and the all-cause mortality rate of fast runners was nine times that of slow runners.
Another for more than 1 million womenResearchWomen who exercise vigorously every day have a higher risk of coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and venous thromboembolism than women who exercise vigorously two to three times a week.
ResearchVigorous exercise may increase the risk of atrial fibrillation, coronary artery disease, and cardiac arrhythmias.These strenuous excessive exercises may put a lot of pressure on the heart, cause heart dilation, cardiac insufficiency, and promote the release of some substances that are not conducive to cardiovascular health, improving cardiovascular health.sudden cardiac deathrisks of.
In addition, prolonged vigorous exercise can produce largefree radical, accelerate atherosclerosis and lead to endothelial dysfunction. The presence and quantity of coronary artery calcified plaque is an important indicator of heart disease.Researchers track 3,175 Americans for 25 yearsResearchPeople who exercise more than three times the recommended amount (more than 450 minutes per week) have a higher risk of coronary artery disease by middle age than those who do not exercise enough (less than 150 minutes per week) 27% out. This situation is even more pronounced among whites, who have an 80% higher risk of coronary artery disease.
Exercising beyond the inflection point has a high risk and also affects mitochondria and blood sugar
The time and intensity of exercise have a “inflection point“.havereview studyIt is suggested that continuous strenuous exercise for more than 40 to 60 minutes is not necessary.
After exceeding the “inflection point”, the heart willstarting to show damageNot only that, there will be metabolic problems.
“When we started exercising once or twice a week, everything looked fine, and the mitochondria improved glucose control,” Dr. Mikael Flockhart of the Swedish Academy of Sports and Health Sciences told The Epoch Times said during the interview.
“However, when we push ourselves too hard every day and really work hard, we fall into a negative state.” The benefits of blood sugar control have also changed from positive to negative.
flockhart involvedResearchIt showed that during a week of high-intensity training every day, the testers’ mitochondrial respiration was significantly reduced, while glucose tolerance and insulin secretion were disturbed. “It’s exactly a stressful situation where you don’t get positive change.”
Flockhart further stated that when overload training begins, the human body will be in an unbalanced state, the human immune response will be suppressed, and normal hormone secretion will be affected, such as testosterone levels will decrease. In addition, these various stress factors caused by intense overload exercise will impair the quality of sleep and make people feel depressed.
Who is at higher risk for strenuous exercise
Franklin emphasized that high-intensity exercise itself is not dangerous. In the right amount, “higher-intensity exercise is more conducive to protecting the heart.”
But strenuous exercise can be fatal for some.
1. Sedentary
“The risk is greatest for people who are sedentary,” Franklin said.
haveResearchproposed that the least active and unhealthy individuals were at greatest risk for exercise-related acute cardiac events. A database with more than 2.9 million fitness members shows that,nearly halfof exercise-related deaths occur among members who do not exercise regularly or exercise less than once a week.
2. People with heart disease
Many people don’t know they have heart disease, and Franklin said that doing strenuous exercise with this condition carries a high risk.
People who were physically active and healthy in their youth are also more likely to develop underlying cardiovascular disease over the past few decades without knowing it. Therefore, when these unaccustomed to high-intensity exercise participate in an activity that is considered vigorous exercise (such as being invited to a basketball game) on a whim, their risk of developing heart disease increases greatly.
In addition, some adults with a busy life rhythm tend to start their fitness journey with high-intensity exercise, thinking that exercising in this way is more time-saving and efficient. But if the person has underlying cardiovascular disease without knowing it, it is very dangerous.
In the interview, Franklin talked about a case he had come into contact with: a 38-year-old male nurse, determined to change his obese body through hard work, but died suddenly while running on the treadmill in the gym on the first day.
Because it is worth noting that among Americans aged 40 to 59, about38%of people have cardiovascular disease (including high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, heart failure and stroke), and this rate rises to 73 percent among those aged 60 to 79.Aboutone fifthHeart attacks are silent.
“It is for this reason that I tell all middle-aged and elderly patients or adults who start an exercise program to start with walking.” – Franklin recommends that people go through two or three months of step-by-step walking training instead of running as soon as they come up.
How to exercise moderately
Franklin proposes four plans for exercising by walking.
● For older people in poor physical condition, it is recommended to walk 4 days a week for 1 hour at a speed of 2 miles per hour. This is a very comfortable pace.
● For relatively healthy people, moderate-intensity exercise is recommended, 3 days a week, walking at a speed of 3 miles per hour for 1 hour each time.
● For relatively healthy people, you can also walk for 30 minutes or more at a speed of 2.5 miles to 3 miles per hour, 5 to 6 days a week. This is also a program of moderate intensity.
● Walk 7000 steps a day.
Here is some explanation of the fourth plan. Many people stick to their goal of walking 10,000 steps a day, when in fact it is possible to achieve certain health benefits by walking 7,000 steps a day instead of 10,000.Franklin referred to a major 2021 study published in JAMAResearchcompared with those who walked less than 7,000 steps per day, those who walked more than 7,000 steps per day had a 50% to 70% lower mortality rate over the next 10 years.
In addition, Franklin introduced that for healthy people, running exercise can reduce mortality, and clinical research has proved that the greatest reduction in mortality occurs when running for about 35 minutes a day. Compared with walking, running can indeed achieve the effect of longer walking time in a shorter time. For example, running for 5 minutes may be equivalent to walking for 15 minutes.
Flockhart believes that the average person’s daily exercise to maintain health should be low-intensity; high-intensity training once or twice a week is also fine. But after more than three times, even if you do more, the benefits will not be more, and it will affect the normal low-intensity exercise. And each high-intensity training time should not exceed 30 minutes in total.
“For maintaining health, the amount of exercise is the most important.” Many people exercise with the purpose of getting more benefits from high-intensity, “but this is not sustainable,” Flockhar said. Because it is really difficult for ordinary people to maintain frequent high-intensity exercise, people must find long-term healthy exercise methods.
“And something like an easy jog or go out on your bike or take a short walk, which is really enjoyable and enjoys nature, and I think that’s the most important form of exercise,” Flockhart said.
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Responsible editor: Li Qingfeng◇
