Soccer can improve heart function of diabetics: Study


Copenhagen, May 31 (IANS): Playing soccer can alleviate blood pressure problems and improve heart function in patients with type 2 diabetes, says a study.

The study, published recently in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, investigated the effects of soccer training on 21 men, aged 37-60 years, who had type 2 diabetes.

"We discovered that soccer training significantly improved the flexibility of the heart, and the cardiac muscle tissue was able to work 29 percent faster," said study co-author Jakob Friis Schmidt, reports Science Daily.

"This means that after three months of training, the heart had become 10 years younger," added Schmidt, who co-authored the study with PhD student Thomas Rostgaard Andersen.

"Many type 2 diabetes patients have less flexible heart muscles which is often one of the first signs of diabetes' effect on cardiac function, increasing the risk of heart failure," the researcher said.

Advanced ultrasound scanning of the heart also demonstrated that the heart's contraction phase was improved and that the capacity of the heart to shorten was improved by 23 percent - a result that had not been reported with other types of physical activity.

  

Top Stories


Leave a Comment

Title: Soccer can improve heart function of diabetics: Study



You have 2000 characters left.

Disclaimer:

Please write your correct name and email address. Kindly do not post any personal, abusive, defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, discriminatory or unlawful or similar comments. Daijiworld.com will not be responsible for any defamatory message posted under this article.

Please note that sending false messages to insult, defame, intimidate, mislead or deceive people or to intentionally cause public disorder is punishable under law. It is obligatory on Daijiworld to provide the IP address and other details of senders of such comments, to the authority concerned upon request.

Hence, sending offensive comments using daijiworld will be purely at your own risk, and in no way will Daijiworld.com be held responsible.