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Sonia begins the workout with a warm-up. She walks on the treadmill for a few minutes before she slowly starts jogging. She taps on the speed of the treadmill to increase it from 5.5 to 7 and then 9. She begins to run during the 25th minute her feet start rhythmically rapping on the belt of the treadmill. Over the 45th minute she gradually slows down to a speed of 5.5 and grinds to a slow halt at the end of an hour. As a veteran of 28 marathons, she knows that changes should happen slowly and over a gradual shift rather than sudden manouvres.She then moves to use the cross-trainer. A device that exercises the arms, legs and torso. With alternate motions of the arms and legs, the cross trainer helps to reduce impact to joints caused by the feet hitting a hard surface. It engages muscles throughout the body and helps strengthen the heart.
What I’ve just described above is what constitutes a group of exercises called cardio short for ‘cardiovascular exercise’. These co-ordinated quick exercises help in increasing the speed of the heartbeat and its pumping function so that it can function well in times of stress and increased oxygenation demand by the body. She breathes harder as she pushes her strength to the machine while oxygen flows into her lungs, into her heart and seamlessly into her organs and muscles. These cardiovascular exercises belong to a group of exercises called isotonic exercises, where there is a change in muscle length but there is no change in the tension of the muscle. This is different from another group of exercises called isometric exercises where there is no joint motion but the muscle length remains the same.
Isometric exercises apply constant tension to the muscles, and are useful for improving physical endurance and posture by strengthening and stabilizing the muscles.
Anaesthesiologists often ask the level of endurance that the patient can undergo prior to surgery. Does the patient have any breathlessness while performing exercise? And if so at what stage does the patient have breathlessness? This is to assess if the patient has a heart and lungs which are fit enough to withstand the stress of surgery and anaesthesia. The endurance can be assessed in the form of Metabolic Equivalents (METS). A Metabolic Equivalent is the amount of oxygen consumed during rest. This amounts to around 3.5 ml of oxygen per kg of body weight of the person. This can also be used to calculate the number of calories burnt during physical activity. The greater the physical activity done by the person, the greater the metabolic equivalents of the person.
Aerobic exercise is a form of cardio which uses the body’s metabolic system to use oxygen to produce energy. It helps the body’s cardiovascular system to take up oxygen and transport it through the blood.
Exercise improves the heart health by reducing stress hormones that can put an extra burden on the heart and acts to slow the heart rate and lowers the blood pressure.
However, interestingly the benefits of exercise also pass over to the brain.
Like the heart, the brain too requires a large volume of blood flow which is around 15% of the blood that the heart beats per minute. It also needs adequate oxygen to help it run efficiently. The brain constantly needs energy to transport ions and to maintain the potential of the membranes that line the neurons.
The factors that affect the health of the heart such as high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, diet and unchecked alcohol consumption also affect the brain and so while you take care of your heart, you also take care of your brain.
Physical exercise helps improve the cognitive function of the brain. Studies on animals have shown it helps specific regions of the brain like the hippocampus which helps in memory formation. Aerobic exercise aids in forming new connections between neurons, in neurogenesis which is the formation of neurons and vascularization, the formation of small blood vessels in the brain.
These benefits are especially seen in older people with Dementia who have cognitive decline.
Endorphins, are the happy hormones that are secreted in the brain that help in diminishing the perception of pain. They also act as sedatives, the natural sleep inducing chemicals The happy high that you experience after a run or a workout is the result of the secretion of these hormones.
All of these benefits are seen with consistent exercise along with a balanced diet and adequate sleep, all of which are invaluable in this fast paced age. This is a reminder that every time you believe you are making your heart stronger through exercise, you are also making your brain younger!
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.