At Good Elements, we’re not much for New Years resolutions - but we
are ones for exercise. Grady loves his windsurfing, Tim tolerates his
treadmill, and Dr. Zimmer namaste’s herself to happiness in yoga.
We know that exercise helps the heart, and a lack of it can help promote the factors that lead to heart disease. But how late in life is too late to begin exercising? Well good news, friends, it seems as if it’s never too late.
Epidemiologist Dietrich Rothenbacher of the University of Heidelberg and his colleagues surveyed 312 patients–mostly men–between the ages of 40 and 68 who suffered from coronary heart disease and 479 volunteers matching the patients in age and sex. The scientists asked them to detail their physical activity from the ages of 20 to 39, 40 to 49 and 50 years and older. More than 10 percent of patients and 6 percent of the controls admitted to lifetimes devoid of physical activity.
Compared to these inactive counterparts, those who were active throughout their lives enjoyed more than a 60 percent less chance of developing heart disease. But even those who became active only after the age of 40 enjoyed a 55 percent less chance of cardiovascular trouble, and those who went from being inactive to very active saw the greatest benefits. Although such a survey technique is open to so-called recall bias–a tendency by test subjects to incorrectly estimate their exercise–the researchers found that individuals’ reports matched well with physical fitness measures and even matched better with their ultimate fate. “Our results suggest that a more active physical activity pattern is clearly associated with a reduced risk of [coronary heart disease],” the researchers write in the paper presenting their findings published online in Heart. “And that changing from a sedentary to a more physically active lifestyle even in later adulthood may strongly decrease [coronary heart disease] risk.”
Source: Scientific American
