| ■ Exercise May Help Heart Fix Itself | 2007.09.07 |
| Not only will exercise help keep your heart healthy, it may help your heart repair itself, German researchers said Wednesday at a European Society of Cardiology meeting in Vienna. A Leipzig University study of 37 people found that people with significant heart failure who rode a bicycle for up to 30 minutes each day over four months produced new stem cells and small blood vessels. People who didn't ride the bike didn't show these changes, the Associated Press reported. Exercise can send up to 10 times the normal amount of blood to muscles, the wire service said. Stem cells may then be dispatched to repair any damage to the muscles. With continued exercise, these cells may also help adapt the body to stress by building new vessels and strengthening the muscles. "People think that if they have heart failure then they're at the end of the road and they can't exercise," said Dr. Freek Verheugt, a cardiologist at the University of Nymegen in the Netherlands. "But this study shows that exercise can work to produce new blood vessels, even in patients with serious heart disease." |