| People age 50 or older can live up to three years | | | | Heart disease risk factors such as diet, alcohol were |
| longer, free of heart disease and controlling their | | | | not evaluated.A second study assigned 492 sedentary |
| diabetes by taking a brisk walk for 30 minutes a day, | | | | adults to walk 30 minutes at different levels of |
| research suggests.In a paper, researchers in the | | | | frequency and intensity at an exercise lab. |
| Netherlands studied more than 4,100 men and women | | | | Researchers measured the intensity of the workout |
| participating in a Framingham Heart Study based on | | | | as a percentage of maximal heart rate |
| their level of physical activity.The volunteers were | | | | reserve.Walking for 30 minutes at a high intensity for |
| aged 28 to 62 and were studied twice a year for as | | | | three or four days per week produced significant |
| long as 46 years. Participants kept track of how much | | | | improvements in fitness, Michael Perri of the University |
| time they spent on various activities each day.Dr. | | | | of Florida and his colleagues reported.Slower-paced |
| Oscar Franco of the Erasmus Medical Center in | | | | walks for 30 minutes five to seven days per week |
| Rotterdam, Netherlands, divided the participants into 3 | | | | showed similar benefits, investigators found."Doctors |
| levels of activity based on estimates of how much | | | | should tell patients the goal is to increase activity levels |
| oxygen they consumed. Incidents of death and cases | | | | to 30 minutes of moderate-intensity walking five days |
| of cardiovascular disease were tracked."Life | | | | per week or more." - Steven Blair and Michael |
| expectancy for sedentary people at age 50 were | | | | LaMonte said in a journal commentary.Blair and |
| found to be 1.5 years shorter than for people engaging | | | | LaMonte said their data suggest being physically active |
| in moderate daily physical activity and more than 3.5 | | | | and fit may be more important for those already |
| years shorter than for people with high physical activity | | | | showing clinical risk factors, meaning doctors should tell |
| levels," the team wrote in the Nov. 14 issue of the | | | | patients that regular activity helps even if it doesn't |
| "Archives of Internal Medicine". "These differences | | | | improve cholesterol levels, blood pressure, weight or |
| were similar for both sexes."They observed the | | | | glucose tolerance.Contributed by Beauty of Health |
| preventive power of exercise after taking into account | | | | staff. |
| age, sex, smoking and other diseases such as cancer. | | | | |