Unesp study with 242 people shows that activities in the first years of life offer improvements for the rest of life
Practicing sports during childhood and adolescence provides lifelong cardiovascular benefits, regardless of whether the individual is physically active as an adult. This was shown in a study conducted by researchers from Unesp (São Paulo State University) with 242 residents of the city of Santo Anastácio, in the interior of São Paulo.
According to results published in the magazine Sports Medicine Openthe observed advantages are related to cardiac autonomic modulation (control of heart rate by the autonomic nervous system), an important marker of cardiovascular risk and mortality.
“We analyzed sports practice in this study because it is easier for people to remember. And we were able to adjust the data, separating what was the cardiovascular benefit resulting from sports practice in childhood or adolescence and what came from current physical activity.”, said Diego Christofaro, professor at the Faculty of Science and Technology at Unesp, Presidente Prudente campus, and lead author of the article.
In this way, adds the researcher, it was possible to conclude that physical exercise works as a “savings” to be used throughout life. “The benefits to the cardiac autonomic system appear to be permanent”, he says.
As Christofaro points out, the autonomic nervous system is divided into two main branches: the parasympathetic (which, among other things, slows down the heart) and the sympathetic (responsible for increasing the heart rate). Good cardiovascular function requires a balance between these mechanisms.
“We know that physical exercise is a stressor, so much so that heart rate and blood pressure are expected to increase during exercise. This is due, in part, to adjustments in the autonomic nervous system. But what happens to the body when regular sports practice occurs during childhood and adolescence? Adaptations arise to achieve the ideal balance, with the parasympathetic system predominating.”, declared the researcher.
In other words, exercise promotes a series of adaptations so that the body responds more appropriately to stressful situations. And this continues even if physical activity is reduced in adulthood.
METHODOLOGY
Conducted with support from FAPESP, the population study involved interviews with 242 volunteers (in which they recalled their history of sports practice), who were on average 40 years old. Tests were also performed to identify parameters of cardiac autonomic modulation.
Participants wore wearable sensors that capture heartbeats and transfer the data to a watch, as well as an accelerometer, a device attached to their waist for a week to quantify the time and intensity of daily physical activity.
According to the analyses, individuals who practiced sports in childhood or adolescence presented better parameters in both the global variability of cardiac autonomic modulation and parasympathetic modulation, regardless of the level of physical activity recorded during the experiment.
“These results are yet another argument in favor of encouraging sports practice from an early age.“, says Christofaro.
With information from FAPESP Agency
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