Exercise may help delay inflammation

CHAMPAIGN, Ill., July 5 (UPI) -- A study may offer insight into whether regular exercise can fend off the onset of heart disease or diabetes, University of Illinois researchers said.

The researchers, in a news release, said this could lead to a better understanding of the link between exercise and inflammation, a condition predictive of cardiovascular conditions or other diseases.

Researchers examined parasympathetic tone and sympathetic tone on C-reactive protein -- a biomarker for inflammation -- by assessing heart-rate recovery after exercise. The sympathetic nervous system speeds things up during exercise and the parasympathetic nervous system slows things down when the exercise is finished.

"(When) you're exercising, your sympathetic nervous system will be on, increasing your heart rate, your respiration, etc. Once you stop ... the parasympathetic nervous system kicks in to get everything back down to baseline levels," said Victoria Vieira, a pre-doctoral fellow and the study's primary author and designer.

A notable finding related to post-exercise, heart-rate recovery, researchers said.

"The quicker the individuals were able to get back to their resting heart rate after a strenuous exercise test was inversely related to their CRP," Vieira said. "(Individuals) who had better parasympathetic tone had lower levels of inflammation."