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Heart Beat: Regular exercise eases inflammation

Heart Beat

Regular exercise eases inflammation

A tough game of tennis, an afternoon uprooting a row of old hedge, or a brisk half-hour walk is enough to rev up inflammation through your body. Yet if you do these, or any exercise, routinely, you’ll end up with less inflammation than the average person.

Exercise benefits your heart, and the rest of you, in many ways. It keeps blood vessels flexible, which helps prevent heart attacks and strokes. It helps control weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol. It’s good for your bones and moods. Best of all, people who exercise regularly tend to live longer than those who don’t.

Controlling inflammation may be one way exercise helps the heart. Chronic inflammation plays key roles in the process leading to cholesterol-clogged arteries and heart attacks.

Exactly how a single bout of exercise boosts levels of C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and other markers of inflammation while regular exercise lowers their levels isn’t clear, according to a review in the May 17, 2005, Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Even so, it offers another reason to walk, swim, dance, hop on the treadmill, or just get out there and do some weeding.

Last updated:	August 21, 2006