Site Search :
Regular Exercise Increases Life Expectancy
Research suggests that lack of exercise is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, few studies have investigated the effects of exercise on life expectancy with and without cardiovascular disease. Now research reports that regular exercise significantly increases cardiovascular disease-free life expectancy in people 50 and older.
The study, published in Archives of Internal Medicine (2005, vol 165 no 20), examined the effects of different physical activity levels on life expectancy in people 50 years and older. Researchers at the Erasmus MC University Medical Center in Rotterdam, analyzed data of the ongoing Framingham Heart Study, including more than 5,000 residents in Framingham, Massachusetts, since 1948.
The researchers found that moderate physical activity (such as walking 30 minutes daily, five times per week) increased life expectancy by 1.3 to 1.5 years for people aged 50 years or older, compared with those who had low physical activity. The findings also revealed that high physical activity (such as running 30 minutes daily, five times per week) increased life expectancy by 3.5 to 3.7 years.
"Avoiding a sedentary lifestyle during adulthood not only prevents cardiovascular disease independently of other risk factors but also substantially expands the total life expectancy and the cardiovascular disease-free life expectancy for men and women," the study authors write. "This effect is already seen at moderate levels of physical activity, and the gains in cardiovascular disease-free life expectancy are twice as large at higher activity levels."
Posted by Kristopher Foster on March 23, 2013 11:00 AM
