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WEDNESDAY, March 20, 2019 (HealthDay News) – You want a reason to get out of your comfortable chair? New research shows that even regular physical activity (brisk walking, dancing or gardening) can reduce your risk of premature death.
The researchers found that Americans who exercised moderately every week between 10 and 59 minutes had 18% less risk of death, regardless of their cause.
These benefits continued to increase with longer periods of activity.
The message is clear, said Dr. Mary Ann McLaughlin, a cardiologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. "If you are completely sedentary, you have to start moving, even if it's 10 minutes a day," she said.
"If you're already moving a little bit, going a little further, with a little more vigor, really reduces the risk of death." You do not have to be a marathon runner to have those good effects, "he added. McLaughlin, who did not participate in the study.
Individuals who met the US recommendation of at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity per week reduced their overall risk of death by 31%, and those who observed 1,500 minutes a week almost reduced their risk. in half, showed the results.
Exercise also reduced the risk of death specifically related to heart disease and cancer, the study authors noted.
The research provides further confirmation of the benefits of exercise for health and shows how physical activity can directly affect your risk of death, said Dr. Joseph Herrera. He is chairman of the Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance of the Mount Sinai Health System and did not participate in the study.
"If I could write a prescription for each of my patients and indicate the word" exercise ", and that they were taking it as if they were going to take a pill, I do not think that they would would see them as often as they do, "Herrera said.
The new report comes days after a study by the US National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute found that housework and routine gardening could benefit older women.
Even light physical activity – gardening, walking, folding clothes – seemed to reduce the risk of stroke or heart failure by 22%, and the risk of heart attack or coronary death by up to 42%. %. study found.
For this latest study, Dr. Bo Xi from the School of Public Health, Shandong University, China, and his colleagues draw on health surveys conducted annually between 1997 and 2008 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States. The badysis involved more than 88,000 survey participants aged 40 to 85 years old.
Participants rated their physical activity during their free time. The researchers then compared these responses to the 2011 mortality data to determine if being active had an impact on the risk of death during the study period.
McLaughlin said that "when the data were evaluated, patients who did only 10 to 59 minutes of moderate physical activity a week actually reduced their risk of death, no matter what the cause."
The researchers counted only those exercises that had been done in increments of at least 10 continuous minutes, which was consistent with the US guidelines for physical activity at the time, she noted. Since then, the federal government has stated that any activity, no matter how brief, counts toward your weekly total, explained McLaughlin.
In addition to the overall reduction in the risk of death during the study period, researchers found that between 10 and 59 minutes of physical activity reduced the risk of heart-related death by 12% and 14%, respectively. cancers.
Cardiac risk decreased by nearly 37% as activity minutes increased, and cancer risk decreased by up to 47% with more physical activity, the findings revealed.
Eventually, the benefits of physical activity seemed to stabilize. People who exercised more than 1,500 minutes a week had about the same risk of death, if not a little more, than those who trained a little less than that, according to the report.
It makes sense considering what we know about elite athletes and how they reached certain plateaus during their training, Herrera said.
"We know that the body also requires some form of recovery," he said.
This also has implications for people who weigh moderate exercise compared to more intense workouts, such as running or vigorous cycling, Herrera said.
Essentially, people who participate in vigorous workouts do not necessarily gain additional health benefits, but they reduce the time they have to spend, Herrera said. For example, 75 minutes of vigorous activity a week have effects similar to 150 minutes of moderate activity.
Exercise probably affects the risk of heart-related death by strengthening the heart, lowering blood pressure and lowering stress, McLaughlin said.
The impact of physical activity on cancer is a little harder to determine. Herrera said that this could be due to the increase in body metabolism badociated with exercise, which could help eliminate old sick cells before they become cancerous.
The new study was published online on March 19 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
More information
The US Department of Health and Human Services has more about current physical activity guidelines for Americans.
SOURCES: Joseph Herrera, OD, President of the Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance of the Mount Sinai Health System, New York City; Mary Ann McLaughlin, MD, cardiologist, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York City; March 19, 2019, British Journal of Sports Medicineonline
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