New research indicates that
physical activity lowers cardiovascular disease risk in part by reducing
stress-related signaling in the brain.
In the study, which was led by
investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), a founding member of the
Mass General Brigham healthcare system, and published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, people with stress-related conditions such as
depression experienced the most cardiovascular benefits from physical activity.
To assess the mechanisms underlying the
psychological and cardiovascular disease benefits of physical activity, Ahmed
Tawakol, MD, an investigator and cardiologist in the Cardiovascular Imaging
Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, and his colleagues analyzed
medical records and other information of 50,359 participants from the Mass
General Brigham Biobank who completed a physical activity survey.
A subset of 774 participants also
underwent brain imaging tests and measurements of stress-related brain
activity.
Over a median follow-up of 10 years,
12.9% of participants developed cardiovascular disease. Participants who met
physical activity recommendations had a 23% lower risk of developing
cardiovascular disease compared with those not meeting these recommendations.
Individuals with higher levels of
physical activity also tended to have lower stress-related brain activity.
Notably, reductions in stress-associated brain activity were driven by gains in
function in the prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain involved in executive
function (i.e., decision making, impulse control) and is known to restrain
stress centers of the brain. Analyses accounted for other lifestyle variables
and risk factors for coronary disease.
Moreover, reductions in stress-related
brain signaling partially accounted for physical activity’s cardiovascular
benefit.
As an extension of this finding, the
researchers found in a cohort of 50,359 participants that the cardiovascular
benefit of exercise was substantially greater among participants who would be
expected to have higher stress-related brain activity, such as those with
pre-existing depression.
“Physical activity was roughly twice as
effective in lowering cardiovascular disease risk among those with depression.
Effects on the brain’s stress-related activity may explain this novel
observation,” says Tawakol, who is the senior author of the study.
“Prospective studies are needed to
identify potential mediators and to prove causality. In the meantime,
clinicians could convey to patients that physical activity may have important
brain effects, which may impart greater cardiovascular benefits among individuals
with stress-related syndromes such as depression.”
Source: https://www.massgeneral.org/news/press-release/physical-activity-reduces-stress-cvd-risk
Journal
article: https://www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/j.jacc.2024.02.029
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