Middle-aged activity that keeps heart healthy
Tuesday August 14th, 2012
Middle-aged gardening and housework all help to make the heart stronger, British researchers reported last night.
A
ten-year study by University College London, England, found that leisure
time activities such as vigorous gardening, housework and home maintenance,
as well as sports, are important to health.
Writing in Circulation, Dr Mark Hamer, of University College, said such activities over a prolonged period may enhance heart health.
The research followed more than 4,200 participants, all of whom were part of the Whitehall II study, which has included more than 10,000 British civil service participants in 1985 to investigate social and occupational influences on heart risk.
The participants, whose average age was 49, were asked to report the length and frequency of their leisure-time physical activities.
To analyse the impact of the exercise researchers tested them for chemicals linked to inflammation and heart disease.
“It’s not just vigorous exercise and sports that are important,” said Dr Hamer. “These leisure-time activities represent moderate intensity exercise that is important to health. It is especially important for older people to be physically active because it contributes to successful aging.
“Inflammatory markers are important because we have shown they are a key mechanism explaining the link between physical activity and the lower risk of heart disease. The people who benefited the most from this study were the ones that remained physically active.”
Overall, 49.1 per cent of the participants met the standard physical activity recommendations for heart health of 2.5 hours per week of moderate to vigorous physical activity. The rate reached 83 per cent in later phases of the study as they reached retirement age.
Those who changed from inactive to active exercisers attained lower inflammatory markers when they were followed up.
“Previous studies have looked at the association between physical activity and inflammatory markers in cross-sectional and short-term studies, but none have done this using longitudinal data,” Dr Hamer said.
“Our data is much stronger than the previous shorter or cross-sectional studies, adds to prior evidence and confirms the importance of physical activity for its anti-inflammatory effects.”
The participants Physical Activity and Inflammatory Markers Over 10 Years Follow-Up in Men and Women From the Whitehall II Cohort Study. Circulation. Hamer M et al. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.112.103879
Tags: Fitness | Heart Health | UK News
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