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WEDNESDAY, Sept. 19, 2018 (HealthDay News) – It is well known that regular exercise can help reduce the risk of stroke. Now, new research shows that fitness can have an added benefit by reducing the severity of strokes, if any.
So finds a study of more than 900 stroke survivors. He found that people in better health were twice as likely as sedentary people to have a mild rather than a severe stroke.
And there was no sign that intense workouts were needed. The benefit was observed in the elderly who walked an average of 35 minutes a day.
"Stay physically active, keep walking," said lead researcher Dr. Katharina Sunnerhagen.
The results do not prove that the exercise itself was responsible, said Sunnerhagen, a professor at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
But she said it's clear that regular activity has a range of health benefits – and that lesser strokes can be part of it.
The results were published online on September 19 at Neurology. They are based on 925 elderly people treated for stroke in the same hospital. When patients started a post-stroke detox, they were asked about their exercise habits before the stroke.
In total, 48% reported being active.
Most patients had a mild stroke, based on movement tests, speech and other abilities when they were hospitalized. But physically active people were particularly likely to have mild stroke: 85 to 89%, compared to 73% of sedentary people, showed the results.
Of course, there could be other differences between physically active and inactive older people, said Sunnerhagen.
But, she added, her team took into account health issues such as high blood pressure and diabetes, as well as age and smoking habits. And in the end, exercise was associated with a risk twice as likely to have a mild stroke rather than a more serious risk.
Most importantly, the researchers said that the "light" exercise seemed to be enough. Most active adults got the equivalent of four hours of walking each week.
According to Sunnerhagen, there are simple ways to achieve light activity levels.
"Find ways to incorporate physical activity into your daily life," she said. "It could mean taking the stairs instead of the elevator, walking or cycling to work."
Nicole Spartano, assistant professor of medical research at Boston University, wrote a published editorial with the findings.
She said that a "wealth of studies" had already shown that exercise could reduce the risk of having a stroke. Now, there is evidence that this can also reduce the severity of strokes.
This latest study has limitations, said Spartano. On the one hand, patients were asked to remember their pre-stroke activity patterns, which can be difficult to estimate.
So it's hard to say what "dose" of exercise might be the best, Spartano said.
Nevertheless, she agreed that the results suggest that intensive exercises are not necessary.
Sunnerhagen suggested that people find activities that they really enjoy, so they can keep them in the long run.
Sedentary seniors, she said, may want to talk to their doctor before they start exercising. They might also find it useful to have social activity, she noted – walking with a friend, for example.
Why would active seniors experience less severe strokes?
Spartano said that animal research offers clues: Exercise seems to promote "redundancies" in the blood vessels feeding the brain – which means that multiple arteries feed the same brain area.
Strokes occur when the blood supply to the brain suddenly decreases, usually through a clot in an artery. It is therefore possible that active people benefit from better protection against brain damage, according to Spartano.
More information
The American Stroke Association has tips on reducing stroke risk.
SOURCES: Katharina Sunnerhagen, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden; Nicole Spartano, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Research, Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine; September 19, 2018, Neurologyonline
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