Aine Kelly

Aine Kelly

Prof. Aine Kelly is Professor in Physiology at Trinity College Dublin, where she teaches physiology and neuroscience and researches the effects of exercise on brain health and function.

Location Trinity College Dublin

Activity

  • Hi Therese - it's great that you are teaching yourself to play chess - mental activity is just as important as physical activity in maintaining brain health. Everyone will have different capabilities when it comes to exercise - the important thing is to do what you can - a short walk every day is great if that is as much as you can do - and you can try to...

  • Dolores, it is very difficult to say what the upper limit on exercise is for any individual. Too much strenuous exercise can place stress on the body that can lead to injury, and for anyone engaging in serious training, it is important to remember to schedule recovery time. Engage in moderate levels of activity, ensuring that you meet the minimum recommended...

  • Thanks for your post Dan. Your example shows that exercise is so powerful, both as a physiological tool to maintain health or to treat health issues, but also for one's sense of well-being

  • Thanks Ken - the terminology can be confusing! The anaerobic part refers to the metabolic pathways in the muscle cells that are used to generate energy, and not to the breathing activity.

  • Thanks for the comment Anthony - we're aware that those who have enrolled on the course will have very varying knowledge of physiology so we try to ensure we explain all of the terminology that we use. Keith, diastolic BP will vary across the population - the normal range is between approximately 60 and 80mmHg. If your diastolic BP is higher than this but you...

  • Excellent link Kerry, thank you for posting!

  • Hi Maureen. The reason I included this study is because it is a classic paper in the literature - the J shaped curve shown in the text of the article is modified from this paper. We have learned a lot in the last 20-30 years about the workings of the immune system and our knowledge of how inflammation is mediated at the cellular level is now very advanced. The...

  • Lesley. Short burst of high-intensity exercise such as sprinting are also classed as anaerobic.

  • Claire. Thanks for your comment. Absolutely; many forms of exercise and sport combine elements of both. Broadly, aerobic fitness is important for maintenance or improvement of general cardiovascular health. Resistance or anaerobic exercise helps particularly with building strength and maintaining muscle mass.

  • Walking up a incline can be very challenging for anyone whose fitness level is low. The key thing is to build fitness gradually and progressively. Walking on a flat surface regularly can progress to brisk walking on that same surface or course before something as challenging as walking on an incline is attempted. The other key point is that the body WILL...

  • Like every physiological variable., there is a normal range for blood pressure within the population. Ideally, the blood pressure should be below 120/80mmHg over a consistent period of time. Consistent blood pressure readings above 120/80mmHg indicate prehypertension or hypertension of increasing degrees of severity, depending on how large the numbers are. ...

  • Long-term aerobic training, as described in the video, does lead to a decrease in heart rate. This means that the heart beats less frequently but pumps a greater volume of blood with each beat, rendering it a more efficient pump. Broadly speaking, blood pressure is determined by 2 factors, the pumping action of the heart and the resistance of the blood...

  • Yes, there are some cardiac arrhythmias that result in increased heart rate but low blood pressure. Likewise abnormally high heart rates can result in low blood pressure if this means the time taken to fill the ventricles adequately between contractions is sufficiently reduced. Cardiovascular physiology and the homeostatic mechanisms used by the body to...

  • Augusto, thanks for your question. There has been a lot of work done to research fuel use during exercise. A lot depends on the intensity and duration of exercise but, as a general rule of thumb, during prolonged aerobic exercise at moderate intensity, fat is the main fuel used to produce ATP. Short bursts of high intensity exercise, ie anaerobic exercise, are...

  • Vivienne. I think quite a number of people share your experiences and find it very frustrating. Research shows that there are multiple genetic factors that may contribute to the development of hypertension, independent of modifiable lifestyle factors. Despite regular exercise and a healthy diet, it is still necessary for some people to take antihypertensive...

  • Hi everyone, hope you're finding the material interesting. As several people have correctly pointed out, a major difference between aerobic and anaerobic exercise is at the cellular level ie the metabolic pathways used to produce energy differ, with aerobic metabolism being dependent on oxygen. From an exercise perspective, aerobic activity (eg. distance...

  • Hi everyone
    I hope you're enjoying the material in the course this week. The feedback and comments are really interesting and I'm glad the topic is generating a good discussion. Having covered the basic physiology of exercise this week, next week we focus more on the benefits of exercise in different patient groups.
    Aine

  • True, diet and exercise are crucial to the management of blood pressure. However it's worth remembering that some people will still require, for example, antihypertensive medication to control blood pressure despite leading active and healthy lifestyles - this can be incredibly frustrating for such people who feel they are doing everything 'right' but still...

  • Exactly

  • Very true - the point about bone health is well-made. Fiona Wilson will be discussing exercise and the musculoskeletal system next week

  • Jenny
    "I think combinations of both types of exercise would be of benefit, as long as they are tailored to the specific situation of the person"
    Quite right - well done on combining different types of exercise in your own regime. Paying attention to maintaining or improving strength and flexibility is especially important for older adults in order to...

  • Excellent comment - couldn't have put it better

  • Absolutely - exercise intensity/duration should be built up progressively to allow fitness to improve over time but also to encourage adherence to an exercise program. Feeling the results of your effort and the benefits that come with exercise is a great motivator to continue.

  • Excellent comment Grace - you've highlighted the fact that, at the very least we need to encourage people to meet the physical activity guidelines for general health, but that exercise prescription needs to be tailored to an individual's ability and requirements

  • Thanks everyone for your comments so far. This week, the aim is to introduce some of the physiological concepts relevant to exercise and to develop these next week in the context of disease states.
    So, we'll be discussing exercise and cardiovascular disease, mental health and various other conditions in week 2. It's great that so many of you are mentioning...

  • Tegwen

    It's great to hear that your husband has benefited from exercise - that's the message that we need to keep pushing. We will be discussing exercise and cardiovascular disease in more detail next week

  • Georgia

    Thanks for your comment - we'll be looking in greater detail at hypertension and other cardiovascular conditions next week.

  • Thanks for your comment Sara. You're right, the word chronic is generally used in the context of long-term medical conditions and can also refer to something that is of poor quality, but It is pretty standard within the exercise physiology literature to refer to long-term exercise as 'chronic' and to talk about adaptations to chronic exercise. Therefore, I...