美国国家公共电台 NPR Hearts Get 'Younger,' Even At Middle Age, With Exercise

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

All right. If you haven't been an avid¹ exerciser, never fear. It's not too late, necessarily. A recent study shows that if you take up routine exercises even in late middle age, you can actually reverse some of the damage that a sedentary lifestyle does to your heart. Here's NPR's Patti Neighmond.

PATTI NEIGHMOND, BYLINE²: By your mid-40s, your heart may start to show signs of aging, especially if you don't exercise regularly. Cardiologist Ben Levine.

BEN LEVINE: The heart gets smaller and stiffer.

NEIGHMOND: And eventually it doesn't pump blood as efficiently³ as it used to, making some activities difficult.

LEVINE: The pressure inside the heart goes up really high, and the blood will back up into the lungs, making people very, very short of breath.

NEIGHMOND: Levine studies exercise and fitness at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He wanted to know if starting routine exercise in midlife or even later could prevent this decline in the heart. He recruited patients between 45 and 64 who were otherwise healthy but did not exercise. Mae Onsry (ph) was 62 at the time.

MAE ONSRY: I have my hobbies - I do ballroom⁴ dancing - in my leisure time that I like. And I do gardening.

NEIGHMOND: Enjoyable, but not a daily routine.

ONSRY: No discipline.

NEIGHMOND: Onsry was one of 53 volunteers in Levine's study who were divided into two groups. One did weightlifting and yoga three days a week. Onsry was in the other group which did moderate to high-intensity⁵ exercise most days of the week. After two years, the group doing the more frequent, higher intensity exercise saw dramatic improvements in heart health.

LEVINE: We took these 50-year-old hearts and turned the clock back to 30- or 35-year-old hearts.

NEIGHMOND: Their hearts processed oxygen more efficiently and were notably⁶ less stiff.

LEVINE: And the reason that they got so much stronger and fitter was because their hearts now could fill much better and pump a lot more blood during exercise.

NEIGHMOND: The hearts of those doing less regular exercise didn't change. For Mae Onsry, the study was life changing. Today she exercises every day of the week, walking and jogging at least five miles. If she misses a day, she says she just doesn't feel good. And it's helped her mental health, too.

ONSRY: I'm not moody⁷. I mean, I'm happy.

NEIGHMOND: A key part of the exercise regimen was interval⁸ training, short bursts of high-intensity exercise followed by a few minutes of rest. For example, Levine says, this four-by-four interval training.

LEVINE: It's an old Norwegian ski team workout. It means four minutes at 95 percent of your maximal ability followed by three minutes of active recovery, repeated four times.

NEIGHMOND: Pushing as hard as you can for four minutes stresses the heart and forces it to function more efficiently. Levine says if you haven't done high-intensity exercise and decide to start, make sure you build up gradually. Cardiologist Nieca Goldberg, spokesperson for the American Heart Association, says Levine's findings are important.

NIECA GOLDBERG: Many studies that are done that look at cardiovascular health look at improvements in risk factors for heart attack and stroke, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol⁹ and diabetes¹⁰. But this study specifically looked at heart function and how heart function can improve with exercise.

NEIGHMOND: Goldberg says the findings are a great start. But the study was small, and it needs to be repeated with far larger groups of people. Patti Neighmond, NPR News.

1 avid   

adj.热心的；贪婪的；渴望的；劲头十足的

参考例句：

• He is rich,but he is still avid of more money.他很富有,但他还想贪图更多的钱。
• She was avid for praise from her coach.那女孩渴望得到教练的称赞。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

4 ballroom   

n.舞厅

参考例句：

• The boss of the ballroom excused them the fee.舞厅老板给他们免费。
• I go ballroom dancing twice a week.我一个星期跳两次交际舞。

5 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

6 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

7 moody   

adj.心情不稳的，易怒的，喜怒无常的

参考例句：

• He relapsed into a moody silence.他又重新陷于忧郁的沉默中。
• I'd never marry that girl.She's so moody.我决不会和那女孩结婚的。她太易怒了。

8 interval   

n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息

参考例句：

• The interval between the two trees measures 40 feet.这两棵树的间隔是40英尺。
• There was a long interval before he anwsered the telephone.隔了好久他才回了电话。

9 cholesterol   

n.（U）胆固醇

参考例句：

• There is cholesterol in the cell of body.人体细胞里有胆固醇。
• They are determining the serum-protein and cholesterol levels.他们正在测定血清蛋白和胆固醇的浓度。

10 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。