It has been known for at least 20 years or more than endurance exercise done over a period of time can mitigate the age related increase in central artery stiffness.Work published by Tanaka in 2000 and data from the BLSA in 2003 established that relationship. refs 2 and 3 The duration and intensity of exercise are important determinates of that mitigation .
Sedentary aging is associated with changes in the left ventricle (LV) , including :
increase in wall thickness,increased mass and decreased diastolic function.The LV is stiffer and relaxes less well It has been suggested that the heart burdened by these accountments of aging are sitting ducks for a second hit (High blood pressure,obesity,diabetes) which could lead to heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), a type of heart failure constituting about one half of all HF cases and for which there is no good treatment.
Gates and colleges (1)from University of Colorado studied the question of whether attenuation of age related increased in arterial stiffness by long term endurance exercise might help preserve LV structure and diastolic function. This was a reasonable hypothesis as it had ben the general party line for years that the increased afterload imposed on the left ventricle from stiffening of the aorta with loss of its capacitance function would produce deleterious changes in the left ventricle and secondarily left atrium .
In a cross sectional study of 138 young,middle aged and older men who were sedentary, recreationally active or endurance trained ,Gates found that regular endurance exercise did not"consistently modulate the changes in LV structure and function that occur with physiological aging in men" . Several publications from Ben Levine and the group from the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine in Dallas have provided data that I believe provides refutation of that conclusion,their data demonstrating favorable remodeling of the Left Ventricle with maintenance of a more youthful left ventricular compliance.
1)Gates,P E Left ventricular structure and diastolic function with human ageing. European Journal of Cardiology. 2003,24,2213-2220
2)Tanaka,H Aging habitual exercise and dynamic arterial compliance. Circ. 200 102, 1270
3)Havlik,R Association of physical activity and less vascular stiffness in 70-79 year old.The health ABC Study. J of Aging and Physical Activity. 2003, vol 11 , issue 2 156-166
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