#090 How Exercise Prevents & Reverses Heart Aging | Benjamin Levine, M.D.
FoundMyFitness
Rhonda Patrick, Ph.D.
4.8 • 5.5K Ratings
🗓️ 28 May 2024
⏱️ 152 minutes
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Everyone has to get old sometime, but what if, at least for some aspects of aging, we didn't have to? Imagine if the loss of heart size and the stiffness that often comes with aging could be reversed, even well into late middle-age.
And not by a little - by a lot. Today's guest, Dr. Benjamin Levine, has shown that with the right exercise protocol, people who were sedentary most of their lives could reverse up to 20 years of heart aging. Dr. Levine is one of the world's leading experts in understanding how the heart adapts under a variety of conditions, whether that's exercise, elite athleticism, or hospital bedrest. Or even highly exotic conditions, like prolonged exposure to microgravity. He is the founding director of the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine at UT Southwestern in Dallas, a leading facility renowned for its research in cardiovascular physiology. His expertise also extends into space medicine, where he advises NASA, underscoring his broad, deeply fundamental understanding of how the heart changes over time. Additionally, he is a recognized authority in sports cardiology, consulting for organizations such as the NCAA, NFL, NHL, and various professional sports leagues.
In this episode, we discuss:
- (00:06:21) Are 3 weeks of bed rest worse for fitness than 30 years of aging?
- (00:10:08) Why untrained individuals recover fitness faster than athletes following bed rest
- (00:11:40) Does exercise protect against long COVID?
- (00:14:31) "COVID triad testing" guidelines for evaluating heart health in athletes
- (00:16:17) Why strict bed rest is a model for space flight
- (00:17:14) How 12 weeks of bed rest affects heart size
- (00:18:42) Why a brand-new rubber band mimics a lifetime of endurance training
- (00:22:14) The exercise dose that preserves youthful cardiovascular structure
- (00:24:22) The exercise regimen that reversed 20 years of heart aging
- (00:28:05) What it takes to reverse vascular age by 15 years in 70-year-olds
- (00:33:29) Benefits of starting an exercise regimen in your 70s [benefits that don't involve cardiac remodeling]
- (00:39:17) Considering the risks of high-intensity exercise
- (00:42:42) Balancing high-intensity & moderate-intensity training
- (00:47:39) Training for health vs. training for performance
- (00:48:47) Why muscle mass & cardiorespiratory fitness are like retirement funds
- (00:49:58) Make exercise a part of your personal hygiene
- (00:51:01) Why does VO2 max correlate with longevity?
- (00:58:29) The 2018 JAMA study on cardiorespiratory fitness & mortality
- (01:04:06) How does change in fitness over time affect mortality?
- (01:06:19) Why exercise non-responders should consider "increasing the dose"
- (01:10:08) The 2 limiting factors for improving VO2 max in competitive athletes
- (01:13:05) How marathon training affects heart size in sedentary young people
- (01:17:20) Heart adaptations in purely strength-trained vs. endurance athletes
- (01:23:09) Why pure strength-trainers should incorporate endurance training
- (01:26:53) How strength training affects blood pressure (exercise pressor reflex)
- (01:31:27) How exercise influences cardiac output in mitochondrial myopathy patients
- (01:33:25) Does CrossFit count as endurance training?
- (01:35:50) What's the best exercise for improving blood pressure?
- (01:40:57) Lifestyle strategies for treating hypertension
- (01:43:26) Why recovery is key to reaping the benefits of a training stimulus
- (01:47:22) The best indicator of being overtrained
- (01:48:22) Heart rate brackets & running pace estimates for training zones 2-5
- (01:54:46) Why heart rate variability is a poor indicator of recovery
- (02:00:02) Why do men tend to be faster runners than women?
- (02:03:34) Can women achieve similar aerobic exercise benefits doing 2x less than men?
- (02:05:06) Are there cardiovascular benefits of HRT in women?
- (02:06:57) How Dr. Benjamin Levine defines "extreme exercise"
- (02:08:45) How does exercise volume affect coronary plaque calcification
- (02:15:35) How exercise duration & intensity affect coronary calcium levels
- (02:18:48) Why high exercise duration & intensity increases risk of Afib
- (02:21:18) What exercise dose increases Afib risk?
- (02:23:06) Managing stroke risk in athletes prone to Afib with anticoagulants
- (02:26:00) Why you shouldn't become an endurance athlete to "live longer"
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Everyone has to get old sometime, but what if, at least for some aspects of aging, we didn't have to. |
| 0:06.0 | Imagine if the loss of heart size and the stiffness that often comes with aging could be reversed, even well into late middle age and not by a little by a lot |
| 0:15.4 | today's guest Dr Benjamin Levine has shown that with the right exercise protocol |
| 0:20.6 | people who were sedentary most of their lives could reverse up to 20 years of heart |
| 0:25.3 | aging. |
| 0:26.3 | Dr. Levine is one of the world's leading experts in understanding how the heart adapts |
| 0:30.8 | under a variety of conditions, whether that's exercise, elite |
| 0:34.3 | athleticism or hospital bed rest, or even highly exotic conditions like prolonged |
| 0:39.3 | exposure to microgravity. He is the founding director of the Institute for Exercise and Environmental |
| 0:45.0 | Medicine at UT Southwestern in Dallas, a leading facility renowned for his research |
| 0:50.6 | in cardiovascular physiology. His expertise also extends into space medicine |
| 0:55.8 | where he advises NASA underscoring his broad deeply fundamental |
| 1:00.0 | understanding of how the heart changes over time. Additionally, he is a recognized authority in sports |
| 1:06.6 | cardiology consulting for organizations such as the NCAA, NFL, NHL, and various professional sports leagues. |
| 1:15.7 | The implications of being able to reverse |
| 1:18.2 | any aspect of aging are immense. |
| 1:20.7 | But the key ingredient truly is committing to the process, doing the routine, sometimes boring stuff day in and day out, and sometimes embracing a little challenge too. |
| 1:30.0 | Dr Levine's research highlights the importance of ongoing commitment. |
| 1:35.0 | It is one of his landmark trials that he and his team showed that participants who had been sedentary for most of their lives put them on a structured graduated training regimen. |
| 1:47.0 | This program culminated in five to six hours of physical activity per week sustained over two years. |
| 1:55.0 | Participants engage in a variety of exercises ranging from high intensity interval trading |
| 1:59.3 | sessions like the Norwegian 4 by 4, to light aerobic activity on recovery days and strength training. |
... |
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