A group of authors from several international universities recently published a study entitled "Selection of endurance capabilities and the trade-off between pressure and volume in the evolution of the human heart". , which shows that human hearts are optimized for endurance. How durable they are depends on whether we run, work in the field or prefer sitting or lying down.
To get to the "heart" of the problem, the researchers used ultrasound images of the hearts of more than 160 adult men from four groups - long-distance runners, adults who spend a lot of time sitting, professional football players and members of the Tarahumara, Native American farmers known for their running abilities. For comparison, they also looked at the hearts of 43 adult male chimpanzees, one of our closest evolutionary relatives.
When the researchers compared the thickest of the heart's four chambers—the left, which pumps blood and has a strawberry look—they saw clear differences. Long-distance runners and farmers had larger, elongated ventricles with thin walls—properties that help pump large volumes of blood over long distances. Football players, as well as those who like to sit or lie down, had shorter and wider chambers with thicker walls. Chimpanzees, whose main activities are fighting or climbing, had the shortest and thickest ventricles.
Because high-intensity activity causes blood pressure in the arteries to rise in a very short time, such a small chamber volume, thick walls and rounded shapes are useful for athletes, in this case soccer players, and chimpanzees, the researchers say, because they ensure that enough blood continues to flow. flows to the brain to maintain consciousness. Even without those evolutionary pressures, the couch potato lifestyle seems to have resulted in the same kind of fattening.
Researchers believe that the so-called adaptations for endurance most likely helped early hunter-gatherer and farming societies. But they would also lead to less adaptation for problems like high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, which are widespread in today's societies. The researchers suggest that these early endurance adaptations made it harder for today's population to fight hypertensive heart disease. Couch potatoes shouldn't be heartbroken by this knowledge either – namely, changing the shape of the heart is possible with a change in lifestyle. So, more running and swimming, and a healthy heart is just around the corner.
Source: Elementarium.cpn.rs
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