Walking produces pressure waves in the arteries that significantly increase blood flow
The impact of the feet on the ground when walking, not just running as previously believed, can help control the blood supply to the brain and get more, according to research presented today.
Researchers at Newhall Highlands University (NMHU) presented the results of their study at the annual APS meeting on Experimental Biology 2017.
This same research team and others had already discovered that when a person runs the impact of their feet against the ground produces pressure waves through the arteries that synchronize with the heart rhythm and the stride to regulate dynamically the arrival Of blood to the brain.
In the current study, they calculated the blood flow to the two brain hemispheres of 12 young adults, standing and walking fast (one meter per second), from measurements of the velocity of blood waves in The internal carotid artery diameter and the arteries of each of the adults made with ultrasound techniques.
They determined that although the impact of the feet on walking is less than when running, walking also produces pressure waves in the arteries that significantly increase blood flow to the brain, an effect that is not so visible in cycling because of No impact of the feet against the ground.
“These new data clearly indicate that cerebral blood flow is very dynamic and depends directly on the cyclic pressures in the aorta that interact with the pressure pulses in the opposite direction that produces the impact of the feet. Hemodynamic effects on blood flow to the human brain when pedaling, walking or running. In a speculative way, it can be said that these activities can optimize perfusion (feeding of cells with oxygen and nutrients) and brain functioning and Overall feeling of well-being during exercise, “the study points out.
What was “surprising” for Ernest Greene, who led the research, is that it took so long to measure these “obvious hydraulic effects on the flow of blood in the brain.” According to the scientist, there is an optimizing rhythm between “watering the blood to the brain and moving”. The rhythm of the strides and the impact of the feet are in the range of a normal heart rate (about 120 beats per minute) when a person moves with energy, he concluded.