Aging effects on heart rate variation
Article Abstract:
Aging is known to have an effect on normal heart rate by altering the body's regulation of involuntary functions. Whether the heart responds to physiological changes differently with age is not yet completely understood; the heart rate normally changes in reaction to physiological changes such as exercise. To determine what effects age has on the time it takes the heart to respond to physiological change and what effect age has on the response itself, heart rate was measured in 56 healthy individuals aged 20 years to 81 years to gather baseline data. Individuals were asked to stand up from a supine (lying down) position while heart rate was monitored. There was no age effect on heart rate for subjects while they were supine, however heart rate increased to a lesser extent on standing for older subjects as compared with younger subjects. Thus there was less variability in heart rate in older subjects than in younger subjects. Similar results were found under conditions of spontaneous breathing and metronome, or controlled, breathing, although under the metronome breathing condition some age-related differences in response to postural changes were seen that did not occur during spontaneous breathing. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Journals of Gerontology
Subject: Seniors
ISSN: 0022-1422
Year: 1991
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Oxygen-dependent perturbation of life span and aging rate in the nematode
Article Abstract:
The effects of changes in the concentration of atmospheric oxygen on the life spans and aging rate of the wild type and mev-1(kn1) mutant of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans are studied. The average and maximum life spans of both the wild type and mev-1(kn1) mutant were increased with low concentrations and decreased with high concentrations of oxygen. However, the effects of oxygen on life span and aging rate were more pronounced in the mutant, which has half of the cytoplasmic superoxide dismutase activity level.
Publication Name: Journals of Gerontology
Subject: Seniors
ISSN: 0022-1422
Year: 1993
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