New research has provided yet more evidence that regular, daily activity can cut your risk of heart problems and help you live longer. The research was published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The study that the routine exercise involved in DIY and gardening is ideal for older people who don’t do very much formal exercise.
The researchers at the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm, studied almost 4,000 sixty year olds in Stockholm, Sweden, and tracked their cardiovascular health for around 12.5 years.
At the start of the study all the participants had a health check. They were asked about their diet, whether they smoked, how much they drank, and how much physical activity they took part in.
The health check gathered information on how often they had included a range of daily activities, such as gardening, DIY, car maintenance and picking blackberries over the previous year. They were also asked whether they had taken any formal exercise.
The researchers checked on the participants’ cardiovascular health, recording blood fats, blood sugars and blood clotting factor. Results of these tests are important because high levels are linked to higher risks of heart attack and stroke.
The heart
At the beginning of the study those who were generally active on a daily basis had a much lower risk profile for cardiovascular problems. Those who exercised regularly and were physically active regularly had the lowest risk profile of all the participants. And those with low levels of daily activity had the highest risk.
To put the results into figures, the highest level of daily physical activity was associated with a 27% lower risk of heart attack or stroke and a 30% reduced risk of death from any cause, when compared with the lowest level.
“Our findings are particularly important for older adults, because individuals in this age group tend, compared to other age groups, to spend a relatively greater proportion of their active day performing routine activities as they often find it difficult to achieve recommended exercise intensity levels,” explain the authors.