Exercise your way to a healthier life and retirement BY LISA SALMON wdnews@b-nm.co.uk Popping out for a regular brisk walk or cycle, and using the stairs instead of the lift, could be as good as popping pills for some conditions. While it’s long been known that physical activity massively reduces the risk of developing certain diseases, a major new study suggests exercise may also be as effective as drugs at treating conditions like heart disease and stroke. Although people who suffer from such illnesses shouldn’t just throw their tablets away, the implication is that regular exercise should be as important a part of their treatment regime as medication. The new study, by researchers at the London School of Economics, Harvard Medical School and Stanford University School of Medicine, analysed the results of 305 trials involving nearly 340,000
people, comparing the effectiveness of exercise and drugs on preventing death. It found being active was just as good as medicine for those with existing heart disease, and in the prevention of diabetes, and a more effective treatment than drugs for people who’d suffered a stroke. Professor Mark Batt, a sport and exercise medicine consultant at Nottingham University Hospitals, says: “Physical activity is extremely important for health, and we know there’s compelling evidence for both the prevention of chronic diseases and now in treatment. “There was already information about how effective exercise is in reducing the risk of developing chronic diseases such as diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, and also depression, osteoporosis and others, but this study gives more information about its ef-
Whatever form of exercise you choose to do, a basic level of fitness can help fight illnesses
fectiveness as a treatment, and that’s really important.” But while physical activity is clearly good for your health on several levels, only 14 per cent of UK adults exercise regularly, and recent British Heart Foundation figures show that only a third meet recommended levels of physical activity. Part of the problem is, of course, that often it’s easier to reach for the pills than it is to exercise. But Batt points out that people don’t need to join a gym and make a huge effort to achieve the benefits of being active. Just taking the recommended weekly 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise is enough to really make a difference. “We’re struggling to get enough people to meet physical activity guidelines,” says Batt. “Society is partly to blame – we like things to be very easy. “But this isn’t about buying a new tracksuit and running shoes, it’s about a lifestyle change.” Although there’s “a mountain of evidence” that physical activity is very good for health, Batt says there’s a lack of evidence about the exercise prescription that works best. “We won’t find a perfect dose because we’re all different,” he explains. “What’s right for one person may not be for somebody else.”
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While physical activity is clearly good for your health on several levels, only 14 per cent of UK adults exercise regularly, and recent British Heart Foundation figures show that only a third meet recommended levels of physical activity
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