Cardioprotective Effects of Physical Activity: Focus on Ischemia and Reperfusion

Abstract

This review aimed to revisit the old and introduce some of the new various cardioprotective effects of physical exercise, focusing on ischemia-reperfusion injury. A wealth of data shows that regular physical exercise is necessary to prevent cardiovascular diseases. In the last few years, a number of new training regimes, usually modified variations of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) protocols, have been rising in popularity among people of all ages. Since exercising is not limited to only healthy people, our study emphasized the benefits of HIIT and MICT in preventing or mitigating cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury. Different kinds of research are being performed, studying the various positive and side effects of these training regimes, all in hopes of finding the most optimal ones. So far, all of them have shown that exercising to any extent, even for a short period of time, is beneficial in one way or another, and outweighs the possible risks it might have. We also revisited some of the known molecular mechanisms responsible for many of the effects of physical exercise and introduced some new findings related to them. Lastly, we summarized and compared the benefits of different HIIT and MICT protocols to narrow down the search for the most efficient training method.