Study of Swedish seniors found a reduced
death risk of up to 30 percent
Activities such as
gardening, do-it-yourself projects and housework may be as good as formal exercise when it
comes to reducing the risk for heart attack and stroke, Swedish researchers say.
For people 60 and
older, just keeping busy with daily activities can reduce the risk of
cardiovascular problems by nearly 30 percent and even prolong life, they added.
Being on your feet
and active cuts the time spent sitting around, pointed out lead researcher Elin
Ekblom-Bak, of the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences and the
Karolinska Institute, in Stockholm.
"Sitting is
mainly replacing time you spend in daily activity and vice versa," Ekblom-Bak
said. A recent study found long periods of sitting actually increased the risk
for diabetes, cardiovascular
disease and death, she noted.
"The results of
this study showed that activities of daily life are as important as regular
intentional exercise for older adults for cardiovascular health and
longevity," she said.
But that doesn't mean
formal exercise isn't important. "We saw that those who exercised
regularly and that also had a daily physically active life had the lowest risk
of all," Ekblom-Bak explained.
The time people spend
exercising, however, is only a small part of the day, which leaves a lot of
time for daily activities or sitting, she added.
For the new study,
researchers collected data on more than 3,800 men and women in Sweden who were
born in 1937 and 1938. Participants were asked about their lifestyle, which
included information on their diet, whether they smoked or drank alcohol, and
how physically active they were.
The participants were
also asked how often they took part in activities, such as gardening,
do-it-yourself projects, car maintenance and blackberry picking over the past
year. They were also asked about any exercise they did.
To see how
heart-healthy they were, the researchers examined the participants and took
blood samples to assess levels of fat and sugar. They also checked for high
levels of blood-clotting factor, which is linked to a raised heart attack and
stroke risk.
During more than 12
years of follow-up, 476 of the participants died from or experienced a first
heart attack or stroke, and 383 died from other various causes.
People whose daily
activities kept them moving reduced their risk of a heart attack or stroke by
27 percent and the risk of dying from any cause by 30 percent, compared to
people who spent the least amount of time on their feet.
"Promoting daily
life activities is as important as recommending regular exercise for older
adults for cardiovascular health and longevity," Ekblom-Bak said.
"This is
particularly important for older adults as they tend to spend a greater portion
of their active day performing non-exercise physical activity, as they often
find it difficult to achieve recommended exercise intensity levels," she
said.
Traditional notions
of retirement often don't support continued physical activity at this stage of
life, a U.S. expert said.
"It is almost
expected that as we age, we move less," said Samantha Heller, a senior
clinical nutritionist and exercise physiologist at NYU Langone Medical Center,
in New York City.
"Retirement, a
patient told me, is for sitting around, resting and watching TV," she
said. "Unfortunately, sedentary lifestyles now range across all ages with
the same unhealthy results: increased risk for diseases such as cardiovascular
disease, metabolic
syndrome and certain cancers."
The human body is
designed to be moving a good portion of the day, Heller said. "The less
one physically moves, the less they are able to move," she said.
Regular physical
activities such as house cleaning, gardening, lawn care and climbing stairs
help keep the body mobile and strong, Heller said.
"You can burn up to
six times as much energy per minute when house cleaning as you do when you are
sitting still. People of all ages need to be encouraged to get up off the couch
and turn off the computer and TV and move," she said.
Heller said there are
simple ways to add more physical activity into the day, such as the following:
·
Standing up when talking on the phone.
·
Marching in place when watching TV -- at
least during the commercials.
·
Getting up from your desk every hour and
doing jumping jacks, knee lifts or knee bends for three to five minutes.
·
Climbing a flight of stairs every few hours.
·
Vacuuming the house.
·
Mopping the floor.
Another expert described
the physical fallout of being sedentary.
Dr. Gregg Fonarow, a
professor of cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said
sitting for too long may have adverse effects including burning fewer calories,
and increasing insulin resistance and fats in the blood.
"Greater time spent in
non-exercise physical activities can potentially counter these effects,"
Fonarow said. "These findings further emphasize the importance of
decreasing sedentary time and encouraging everyday regular non-exercise
physical activity to improve cardiovascular health."
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