Cardiovascular System and Its Response to Acute and Chronic Exercise Paper Example

For decades, physiologists have focused their studies on comprehensively understanding the significance of regular physical activities since exercise itself has proven to be an essential tool for health promotion and disease control. In essence, all organisms including the human body require energy, which they use to move. The human body, in particular, tends to generate energy in various ways depending on the intensity of a sporting event or activity. The body consists of many distinct systems that help primarily in maintaining the normal function of the body. The three major systems are the musculoskeletal system, respiratory system as well as the cardiovascular system. The cardiovascular system can be described as the body transport system made up of three main components; the blood that acts as a fluid medium containing the oxygen and the nutrients required by the body and carries the waste to be excreted, the heart which pumps blood and blood vessels which are a system of channels (Lavie et al., 2015). When the human body is subjected to a series of the physical task, the cardiovascular system provides the ability to maintain this movement over a long period because it ensures sufficient delivery of oxygen to the working cardiac and skeletal muscles. Typically, the cardiovascular system is effected from chronic and acute exercise since it regulates the heart rate, blood pressure and raises the level of oxygen (Lavie et al., 2015). The chief aim of this paper is to discuss the cardiovascular system or the vasculature model and how it responds to the chronic and acute bout of exercise. Practicing a lifelong pattern of sporting or exercise program can significantly yield to cardiovascular health benefits.

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Regular exercise is key to reducing the increased health risk of vascular diseases, which are one of the leading causes of death in the world. The cardiovascular system responds differently to the increased demand for physical activity. The response to exercise however depends on the demand of oxygen by the musculoskeletal system at any given rate of exercise while the oxygen uptake (VO2) intensifies with the work greatness (Lavie et al., 2015). At the beginning of an exercise, the brain detects cardiovascular activity and sends out some chemical signals that lead to an increase in the heart rate. Exercising requires a lot of energy derived by the cells from oxidizing glucose that has to be transported by blood together with oxygen. Therefore, the heart beats harder and faster to pump the blood throughout the body. The cardiovascular system adapts to exercise with the increase in activity level in different ways, for instance, the muscular walls of the heart expand in thickness especially in the left ventricle (LV) as its systematic and ejects more blood offering a greater contraction (Whyte & Harold Laughlin, 2010). With the increase in the thickness of the heart, the left ventricle stretches more and therefore fills with more blood. The enlargement of the wall thickness also increases the contraction leading to increased stroke volume (SV) during exercise, augmenting the blood flow to the body.

During exercise, a lot of changes occur in the various elements of the cardiovascular depending on the form of exercise whereby the more intense the exercise, the higher these factors will increase (Whyte & Harold Laughlin, 2010). The Cardiac output (Q) for example increases substantially during maximal acute exercise as a result of an increase in stroke volume (Perez-Quilis et al., 2017). Consequently, this result in an increased supply of oxygen, waste excretion, and enhanced endurance performance. As the rate of exercise increases, the stroke volume also increases implying an increase in Q and an overall increase in a person's oxygen uptake but up to a maximal capacity (VO2 Max) (Perez-Quilis et al., 2017). In addition, recent research suggests that the stroke volume in persons who are active in physical activities can continue to rise until it reaches the maximal rate of work.

Throughout the exercise, the vascular resistance is the primary regulation mechanism for blood flow, whereas this resistance is mainly regulated by the altering contraction of the vascular smooth muscle in the resistance arteries (Whyte & Harold Laughlin, 2010). The muscle blood flow control while exercising is achieved by the release of chemicals from the muscles in proportion to the vasodilation activated in the arterioles and the resistance arteries as well as the paracrine from the red blood cells and endothelial cells (ECs). However, the most critical contribution of the ECs is sustaining the vascular tone both in small and large arteries by producing a contracting endothelin-1 and relaxing nitric oxygen (NO) (Whyte & Harold Laughlin, 2010). Once the nitric acid is released, it travels to the vascular smooth muscle cells and causes calcium to be taken up by the sarcoplasmic. The calcium acts as a display for actin and myosin which means the sliding filaments can't bind and there is no muscle contraction. In particular, the Endothelium Cells ability to stimulate vasodilation via the secretion of Nitric Oxide changes with the mode of exercise.

Numerous researches indicate that blood flow-mediated changes as a result of regular exercise that enacts sheer stress on the arteries, can result in changed gene expression in arterial ECs (Whyte & Harold Laughlin, 2010). However, exercise can both positively and adversely affect the functioning of the immune system, and this can significantly increase a person's infection risk. Recent studies have strongly linked regular and moderate exercise with a strong immune system whereby moderate regular activities have a reduced risk of upper respiratory tract infections (Accattato et al., 2017). Again, involvement in high intensity will have different consequences as such exercises are immunosuppressive and make a person more vulnerable to diseases (Simpson, Kunz, Agha & Graff, 2015). Apart from bringing about changes in the immune system, exercise intensity can alter the count and the function of leukocyte or the white blood cells. High-intensity exercise results in increased leukocyte count including the lymphocytes (T cell), monocytes and neutrophils that dramatically increases in number but later decreases after the workout (Neves et al., 2015). The CD8 or the T cells helper is more responsive to exercise since they contain more responsive cells on the surface and they require a lot of epinephrine, a hormone responsible for reducing the vasodilation (Accattato et al., 2017). Additionally, circulating oxidative stress considerably changes with repeated physical exercise.

Conclusion

In conclusion, regular exercise training and sporting activities have very significant effects on the cardiovascular system functions and as it is apparent, exercise can alter the vascular structure and the work of vascular cells. For instance, improved endothelium-dependent vasodilation is a critical effect of exercise training. It is also important to note that chronic exposure to exercise training leads to enhanced cardiovascular function with increased oxygen and blood flow capacity in the body and increased cardiac output.

References

Accattato, F., Greco, M., Pullano, S. A., Care, I., Fiorillo, A. S., Pujia, A., ... & Gulletta, E. (2017). Effects of acute physical exercise on oxidative stress and inflammatory status in young, sedentary obese subjects. PloS one, 12(6), e0178900.

Lavie, C. J., Arena, R., Swift, D. L., Johannsen, N. M., Sui, X., Lee, D. C.,& Blair, S. N. (2015). Exercise and the cardiovascular system: clinical science and cardiovascular outcomes. Circulation research, 117(2), 207-219.

Neves, P. R. D. S., Tenorio, T. R. D. S., Lins, T. A., Muniz, M. T. C., Pithon-Curi, T. C., Botero, J. P., & Do Prado, W. L. (2015). Acute effects of high-and low-intensity exercise bouts on leukocyte counts. Journal of Exercise Science & Fitness, 13(1), 24-28.

Perez-Quilis, C., Kingsley, J. D., Malkani, K., Cervellin, G., Lippi, G., & Sanchis-Gomar, F. (2017). Modulation of heart rate by acute or chronic aerobic exercise. Potential effects on blood pressure control. Current pharmaceutical design, 23(31), 4650-4657.

Simpson, R. J., Kunz, H., Agha, N., & Graff, R. (2015). Exercise and the regulation of immune functions. In Progress in molecular biology and translational science (Vol. 135, pp. 355-380). Academic Press.

Whyte, J. J., & Harold Laughlin, M. (2010). The effects of acute and chronic exercise on the vasculature. Acta physiologica, 199(4), 441-450.