Training for and finishing a marathon can leave arteries looking up to four years younger, a new UK study of first-time runners and their hearts has found.
Even if runners are older or slow, the training gave the arteries a ‘spruce up’, leaving them more flexible and healthier than before.
As we age, out arteries harden, making it harder to carry oxygenated blood from our hearts and increasing blood pressure and affecting organs that rely on a steady flow of blood such as the brain and kidneys.
Previous research had already shown that experienced older athletes tends to have biologically younger arteries. But the researchers from University College London and other universities wanted to show that it could help people who were new to running too.
They tracked over 200 mostly middle-aged men and women training for the London Marathon who reported they had rarely worked out beforehand and showed no signs of heart disease or serious health problems over six months.
Health and fitness tests and scans of their aortas found participants lost around four years off their arteries, for example, a 60-year-old participant now appeared to have the arteries of a 56-year-old.
Older male runners tended to reap the most benefits along with those who had the slowest finishing times.
“Almost everyone benefited and those people whose arteries needed the most help benefited the most,” Dr Charlotte Manisty, a consulting cardiologist at University College London who led the study, said.
There’s still more work to be done – the researchers say they still don’t know how much exercise is needed to earn the benefits in the study and will now look at shorter-distance events.
But is running a marathon a realistic way to boost your heart health?
For those of us not inclined to throw on the runners, the Heart Foundation says not smoking; managing your cholesterol, blood pressure and diabetes; being physically active; maintaining a healthy weight; and eating a varied diet of healthy foods is still the best way to keep the old ticker in check.
Good to know.
