Could Walking Every Day Add Years to Your Life?
New research presented at the European Society of Cardiology congress suggests that regular exercise can delay the aging process up to seven years. Those experts suggest that one 25-minute walk per day, can halve the risk of heart attack heath and add seven years to your life.
The Study
This German study included both men and women ages 30 to 60. The participants were put on a daily exercise program, as before the study they were not considered regular exercisers. By tracking key markers of aging in the blood, researchers discovered after just six months, that the added exercise showed changes in the body that helped to repair the DNA.
Sanjay Sharma, professor of inherited cardiac diseases in sports cardiology at St. George’s University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in London stated, “When you exercise moderately, you reduce your risk of dying from a heart attack when you’re in your 50s and 60s by 50 percent. That’s a really big deal. Exercise buys you three to seven additional years of life. It is an anti-depressant, it improves cognitive function and there is now evidence that it may [slow] the onset of dementia.”
Other Studies
Additional studies have also found that those who begin exercising at 70 years old, are less likely to develop atrial fibrillation, an abnormal heart rhythm that affects about 10 percent of people over 80 years old. The study, carried out by researchers at Saarland University in Germany, introduced a group on non-exercising, non-smoking participants to a staged exercise program. The study results showed that “…aerobic exercise and high intensity exercise may be more efficient than just lighting weights…” Study author Christi Deaton, Florence Nightingale Foundation Professor of Clinical Nursing Research at Cambridge Institute of Public Health, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, says, “The study brings an understanding of why physical activity has that effect. It helps us understand the process of cellular ageing as what drives our organ system, body ageing and the effects physical activity can have on the cellular level. The more active you are, and it does matter when you start, the more benefit you are going to have.”
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/11833720/25-minute-walk-could-add-7-years-to-life.html
