Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie
-
Age-related morphological changes in the cardiovascular system refer to a thickening of the arterial wall as well as a diffuse increase in the wall thickness of the myocardium. In terms of function, this leads to a decrease of the myocardial contractility in systole and to a delay of the diastolic myocardial relaxation. At the arterial wall, an impairment of wall elasticity as well as a decrease of the vasoreagibility can be observed. ⋯ In older, trained individuals a reduced stiffness of the arterial vessel walls and an improved maximum exercise-induced muscular blood supply occurs. In other training studies performed with older subjects, a positive influence of regular endurance training on the carbohydrate metabolism along with an improvement of the primarily reduced insulin sensitivity could be demonstrated. In older men and women who regularly underwent muscular strength training, a significant increase in maximum strength with a significant increase in the proportion of type II muscle fibers was found.