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(February 26, 2009)

Exercising the relaxing heart


Heart's electrical system
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From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Exercise gets your heart pumping. But researchers say the times when the heart relaxes – filling with blood, between those pumping heartbeats – are also important.

At the Mayo Clinic, Patricia Pellikka looked at heart data on close to 2,900 people. She found some people’s hearts did not benefit as much from exercise.

[Patricia Pellikka speaks] ”In patients with even mild abnormalities of the relaxation phase of their heartbeat, there was an increase in their exercise intolerance.”

Pellikka says older people with problems in the relaxation phase had more pronounced problems with their capacity to exercise.

She also says people can try to prevent problems by reducing their risk of high blood pressure and heart disease.

The study in the Journal of the American Medical Association was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: February, 26 2009