Habitual Exercise and Arterial Aging

 

Douglas R. Seals

University of Colorado

 

The risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) increases with age.  This is due primarily to development of arterial dysfunction and disease, including increases in large elastic artery stiffness and impairment of vascular endothelial function.  Habitual aerobic exercise is associated with reduced risk of CVD in middle-aged and older adults.  Compared with their sedentary peers, men who regularly perform strenuous aerobic exercise demonstrate smaller increases in large elastic artery stiffness and largely preserved vascular endothelial function with aging.  Regular moderate-intensity aerobic exercise reduces large elastic artery stiffness and improves/restores vascular endothelial function in previously sedentary middle-aged and older men.  Habitual exercise has similar effects on large elastic artery stiffness with aging in women, but may not be effective for enhancing vascular endothelial function in some postmenopausal women.  The mechanisms by which habitual aerobic exercise acts to preserve arterial function with aging are incompletely understood, but reduced oxidative stress appears to be an important mechanism.  Maintained bioactivity of tetrahydrobiopterin, a critical co-factor for synthesis of nitric oxide (NO) by endothelial NO synthase, contributes to the beneficial effects of regular exercise on vascular endothelial function in middle-aged and older adults by increasing vascular NO bioavailability.  Recent evidence suggests that regular aerobic exercise also may preserve vascular endothelial function with aging by protecting arteries against the adverse effects of risk factors such as circulating LDL-cholesterol.  In summary, habitual aerobic exercise favorably modulates clinically important expressions of arterial aging, thus preserving vascular function and possibly reducing the risk of age-associated CVD.

 

Key words: endothelial function; large artery stiffness