Research on why exercise is good for us

Middle-aged adults who regularly engage in leisure-time physical activity for more than a decade may enhance their heart health, according to new research

Researchers in Australia weighed how smoking, high blood pressure, physical inactivity and high body mass index contribute to the likelihood of developing heart disease across the lifespan of females.

They analyzed data from more than 32,000 women participating in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health that’s been tracking the health of those born in the 1920s, 1940s, 1970s and since 1996.

The research shows that physical inactivity is the most important contributor to heart disease at the population level.  The focus of the study is on obesity. The data clearly show that inactivity deserves greater emphasis.

In the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the researchers estimated that in young women up to age 30, smoking is comparatively more important than other risk factors for heart disease. That changes when women reach their 30s as they tend to quit smoking when they become mothers.

The researchers estimate that if every woman between the ages of 30 and 90 were able to reach the recommended level of 150 minutes of at least moderate intensity physical activity — like playing golf or recreational swimming or gardening— then the lives of more than 2,000 middle-aged and older women could be saved each year in Australia alone.

The Australian researchers concluded that national programs to promote physical activity deserve a higher public health priority for women of all ages than they have no.

In Canada, a 2004 study also suggested that a large proportion of heart disease in Canadian adults is directly attributable to low physical activity levels, said Prof. Ian Janssen, who is the Canada Research Chair in physical activity and obesity at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont.

Physical activity should be a focus for public health for children in school right up to seniors in Canada claimed the director of the cardiovascular research program at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto.

In another study, the Harvard researchers compiled a sample group of about 7,200 participants, all of whom were older women of an average age of 70. For a week, the women wore devices that monitored their daily mobility. Data drawn from the accelerometers' measurements indicated that, although women were sedentary for the majority of their total waking hours, they did tend to break up their time sitting still with regular periods of standing or walking. This was not what the scientists had expected. What they expected was that senior women would sit longer than they do and would be at greater risk.

Research on women walking comfortably on a treadmill for 45 minutes showed benefits on blood pressure and the health of blood vessel cells, which are important in reducing heart attack risk. The blood pressure effects are immediate, easy to measure and this is a great motivator.

In Canada, women are less likely to take up exercise and stick with it and they’re more likely to become inactive as they get older while men aren’t doing a great job on the physical activity front either.

This sedentary lifestyle is a real problem for my cohort group. In our workshops for seniors on Health and Wellness, we counsel that walking is a fantastic, underrated exercise and a good way to get started. All you need to do is put your shoes on and make sure you’ve got the correct layers.

Walking around the block is low impact, helps the bones, heart and psyche and at the same time can foster good relationships with neighbours and friends.