Can Exercise Make Your Heart Younger?

In this study, researchers found that mice that ran the equivalent of 3.1 miles (5 km) per day generated about 4.5 times more new heart muscle cells than mice that abstained from exercise. The investigators report that these findings demonstrate how exercise can increase the heart’s capacity to regenerate. Researcher Dr. Anthony Rosenzweig notes, “Maintaining a healthy heart requires balancing the loss of heart muscle cells due to injury or aging with the regeneration or birth of new heart muscle cells. Our study suggests exercise can help tip the balance in favor of regeneration.”  Nature Communications, April 2018