Your heart changes shape depending on your activities

Everyone has their reasons when they start or practice a physical activity, however, the two major motivations are generally health or body shape. And it's not just your body that changes its appearance depending on your level of physical activity. Your heart also adapts.

It's no longer a secret, playing sports is good for our health and can even be used as a prescription therapy since 2017. In addition to that, practice an activity physical is often the means for everyone to keep the line and keep a healthy weight where it feels good. We already knew that the hearts of astronauts, for example, changed shape in space, increasing their risk of heart disease. Conversely, in endurance athletes, the heart becomes larger, with ventricles longer, allowing it to pump more blood and for longer, according to a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

To build your heart, you have to be active

The researchers carried out an experiment on 160 adults, all having different activities: long-distance runners, American footballers, Native American farmers known for their extraordinary endurance capacity, and sedentary adults. To have even more comparative data, forty-three chimpanzees were invited to the party. Notable differences were noted in all of these individuals. In those practicing a endurance activity, the heart becomes wider and elongates in order to pump more and more blood while in athletes with activity requiring high intensity efforts in the interim, see their vessels narrow. This is explained by the specific needs of each sporting effort.

Sport: a bulwark against cardiovascular problems

In addition to these effects against pain, depression and multiple conditions pathological, sport can change theanatomy from your heart and therefore help you live healthier lives longer. Indeed, the authors agree that the cardiac structure of endurance runners can prevent blood pressure problems that a large part of the population meets. Of course, a sedentary lifestyle, if it is partly responsible for these vascular problems, is not the only fault. The lifestyle as a whole and above all consumption of ultra-processed foods chronically and excessively contributes greatly to promotingemergence of these increasingly common health problems.

Astronauts' hearts change shape in space

In a situation of microgravity, the infarction of astronauts ends up rounding off and could cause cardiovascular complications. A parameter to take into account the day when men and women will take the direction of Mars, for example.

What are the health consequences of leavingatmosphere and the severity terrestrial? The question questions the Nasa, determined to take maximum precautions before sending human beings into thespace for long trips and has been engaged in various experiences for a while. Scientists have for example been able to note the dangers of ionizing radiation or theatrophy muscular, moreover compensated by the practice of a physical activity.

And among our muscles, there is one that must not know the cramp: the heart. However, a study presented during the 63e annual conferenceAmerican College of Cardiology (ACC, Washington D.C.) suggests that our myocardium may be suffering from the same ailments. Important work while some space projects plan to send men and women to Mars in the next decade.

Once at very high altitude, when the body is in a situation ofweightlessness, the heart no longer needs to invest as much to distribute blood to all regions of the body, especially at the top of the skull, since he no longer has to fight against the force of severity. Now, a muscular less active loses power and efficiency.

Make the heart round

James Thomas, specialist inmedical imaging to the US space agency entrusted 12 astronauts with a specific mission during their passage aboard the International space station (ISS): they had to spend ultrasounds before their trip, during their stay or upon their return to Earth in order to assess the morphological variations of the myocardium over time.

The results are conclusive: during their stay several hundred kilometers above the surface of the Earth, the myocardium was deformed. To be more precise, it rounded up to 9.4%. Parameters very close to the assessments carried out beforehand by mathematical models and assumed to be linked to its slowing down. A phenomenon that disappears very quickly once back on the floor of the cows and which could explain certain dizziness or discomfort felt by astronauts after their return, due to a blood pressure low.

Sport on all floors

However, these data were established during short trips. What about after an 18 month odyssey the duration minimum of a mission on March ? Scientists ignore it. However, they can now risk evaluating them using simulations, given the validation of the relevance of the models used.

The conclusions of such an investigation should enable specialists to develop a program ofphysical activity to maintain sufficient cardiac activity, and thus avoid serious health consequences when the bodies are again subjected to gravitation. However, such a sports regime might not only concern an elite. It would also benefit those who remain on Earth and suffer from crippling physical disabilities, so that they can benefit from the health benefits of sport.

Anatomy of the human heart The heart has four chambers: two atria, located at the top, and two ventricles, at the bottom of the heart. The upper and lower cava veins enter the right atrium, while the pulmonary veins enter the left atrium. Blood from the right ventricle is ejected into the right and left pulmonary arteries, while the left ventricle ejects blood into the aorta. The heart muscle, also called myocardium, is supplied by the network of coronary vessels. © Tvanbr, DP

Cut in the left ventricle The wall of the left ventricle is particularly thick because this compartment of the heart must project blood into the aorta, a large artery that supplies all the organs of the body. At the junction between the atrium and the ventricle is the atrioventricular valve, or mitral valve, which prevents blood from flowing back into the atrium when the ventricle contracts. White collagen cords are attached to the valve. © Patrick J. Lynch, CC by-sa 2.5

View of the heart: the valves In order for blood to flow one way through the heart, without going back, there are heart valves that open and close to prevent backflow of blood. These four valves are: the two atrioventricular valves located between the atria and the ventricles, the aorta valve and the pulmonary trunk valve. The right atrioventricular valve is called the tricuspid, and the left atrioventricular valve the bicuspid valve or mitral valve, because of its resemblance to a bishop's miter. © Patrick J. Lynch, CC by-sa 2.5

Left view of the heart: internal structures In this illustration, the left heart is colored in red and the right in blue, with reference to the blood which passes through their cavities: the left heart sends oxygen-rich blood in the body, while the right heart receives poor blood in oxygen. Three heart valves are represented: the atrioventricular valves and the pulmonary trunk valve. © Patrick J. Lynch, CC by-sa 2.5

Echocardiography of a normal heart In the center, observe the aorta valve which prevents blood from flowing back into the ventricle; this so-called sigmoid valve is made up of three valve-shaped valves. The left ventricle is recognizable by its thicker muscular wall. © Patrick J. Lynch, CC by-sa 2.5

View of the tricuspid valve The right atrioventricular valve, also called the tricuspid valve, is a heart valve made up of three cusps, which are endocardial laminae. This valve is attached by white collagen cords, which connect the cusps to the wall of the ventricle. When the heart is released, the valve is opened, then it closes when the ventricles contract. © Patrick J. Lynch, CC by-sa 2.5

Anatomy of the right heart The right heart receives oxygen-poor blood from the cava veins which enters the right atrium (here on the left of the illustration). Blood is put under pressure in the right ventricle and is expelled from the heart through the pulmonary arteries, to reach the lungs. See the sigmoid valve of the pulmonary trunk, formed by three valves in “crescent moon.” © Patrick J. Lynch, CC by-sa 2.5

Pseudoaneurysm of the left ventricle A pseudoaneurysm, also called a false aneurysm, is a pocket of blood that forms near the myocardium. Unlike real aneurysms, it has no elements of the myocardium, but may rupture. Pseudoaneurysms of the left ventricle are rare, but it is often a complication of a myocardial infarction. They can also occur after a heart operation or an infection. © Patrick J. Lynch, CC by-sa 2.5

Infarction in the left ventricle If a coronary artery is blocked, the blood supply to the myocardium decreases locally. Muscle cells lack oxygen and are weakened. If the situation continues, it may cause a myocardial infarction, or heart attack. Certain regions of the heart muscle are necrotic: they are colored dark at the bottom of the illustration. The more extensive the lesions, the lower the chances of survival. © Patrick J. Lynch, CC by-sa 2.5

Heart operations On the left, the mitral valve has been replaced by an artificial valve. This operation is often necessary in the event of a malformation of the atrioventricular valve or following a valvular insufficiency (failure to close the valve). On the right, bypass surgery allows a blocked coronary artery to be bypassed and to bring oxygen-rich blood to the heart muscle, thanks to a grafted vessel. This grafted vessel often comes from the leg. © 2018 Patrick Lynch

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