Here’s yet another revelation regarding exercise and its many benefits to your health. Hundreds of studies, thousands maybe, have documented regular exercise’s ability to shield your body from disease, keep your heart healthy, protect your mind, and, of course, help you lose weight. But with all of these studies never before have scientists investigated whether jogging, walking, or biking could actually lengthen your life. That is, until now.
The research used was from the famous Framingham Heart Study, which followed more than 5,000 residents of a Massachusetts town for 46 years. Scientists have learned many important things about health thanks to this study.
Now, the newest finding to come out of this study is that even moderate exercise can prevent heart disease and prolong life. And if you break it down far enough, you get to this one-sentence fact: the more you exercise the longer you will live for.
Before the study, scientists weren’t sure how — or even if — physical activity affected life expectancy. To find answers, they took a select group of people who were all over the age of 50, who participated in the Framingham study. They took into account smoking, illnesses, and all the other relevant factors that would influence heart risk. As a result, they came to a couple of strong conclusions using sedentary people for comparison:
–People who participate in moderate activity starting at the age of 50 live an average of 1.3 years longer than those individuals who are sedentary. –These same individuals live an average of 1.1 years longer without heart disease. –People who participate in high levels of activity starting at the age of 50 live an average of 3.5 years longer. –These same individuals live 3.2 years longer free of heart disease.
These were true for both men and women, thus providing further proof of physical activity’s seemingly limitless benefits to your health. Researchers concluded that an active lifestyle is effective for achieving healthy aging.
Now, what about the role of motivation in getting sedentary people moving? A second study tried to see if a doctor’s advice had any impact on this. The study looked at nearly 500 healthy but sedentary people between 30 and 69 years of age. But it seemed that the participants did not take their doctors’ guidance to heart. It turned out that the people exercised, on average, less than the amount prescribed by their doctors.
That’s a good word to keep in mind: prescribe. Exercise is not just a throwaway term anymore; it’s the direct prescription of a health professional. You need to get exercise; not ‘it’s a good idea’ to do so. People do about 60% of the amount of exercise that they are told to do. It’s not that difficult: only a half-hour of reasonably brisk walking a day will achieve this. After all, it’s your life we’re talking about.
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Tags: exercise, Heart, heart disease
