Trier, September, 6th 2024. Cases of heart insufficiency are increasingly. By therapy, Movement of Body could helping. A new Study from University of Trier shows a Problem. The Study is published in specialis Journal Plos one.
Cardiovascular diseases are among the most common causes of death in Germany. This also includes heart failure. In heart failure, the heart can no longer pump enough blood and oxygen to the body. Older people with pre-existing conditions are more frequently affected. A good 30 years ago, it was thought that exercise should be avoided in such cases. Today, however, it is safe to say that, in addition to medication, exercise is the main remedy!
Scientists at the University of Trier have now investigated why people shy away from movement, or rather have a fear of movement. They discovered that people have a fear of exercise in connection with the disease. However, this fear is independent of pumping performance. The fear is therefore not caused by the sensation of a form of heavy breathing in connection with exercise.
„When people with heart failure go for a walk or climb stairs and realise that they are getting out of breath, they often have the feeling that their heart can’t cope. As a result, they avoid exercise,“ explains Heike Spaderna, Professor of Health Psychology at the University of Trier. „But even healthy people can get out of breath when climbing stairs. You have to explain to patients that not all symptoms of fatigue are due to heart disease.“
The study was able to show that the fear of exercise is associated with heart failure and that the avoidance of physical activity is not due to a fundamentally greater tendency to fear among patients.
„Now that a connection has been established, the next step is to consider how we can take away the patient’s fear of exercise,“ says Spaderna. The professor from Trier has had good experiences with virtual reality to mobilise people. Exercises could be designed in a playful way. But a special exercise app would also be conceivable.
„One problem is that it is not standard practice to discuss with heart failure patients how they can integrate exercise into their everyday lives despite their condition. Only some have an exercise plan or physiotherapy,“ explains Spaderna. With their research, the health psychologists would also like to provide medical professionals with the knowledge to address patients‘ fear of exercise. This could give people with heart failure a better quality of life and, ideally, more time to live.
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