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Of: TT
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Photo: Henrik Montgomery / TT
Walking significantly reduces the risk of having a heart attack, a new study shows. Stock Photography.
Just half an hour of physical activity a day reduces the risk of stroke, heart attack, or death by eleven percent. It shows a new Swedish study with people who have turned 70 years old.
Cardiovascular disease is one of the most common causes of death among the elderly in the world. Very sedentary is a factor that contributes to poorer health.
But moving around a little reduces the risk of premature death for the elderly. Researchers at Umeå University, who have studied how so-called low-intensity physical activity affects people in their 70s, say that every minute matters.
– We know from previous research that there is no threshold in terms of physical activity that you must reach to have positive effects on health. The greatest effect of moving appears quite early on the spectrum, says Marcel Ballin, a geriatric doctoral student with a background in sports physiology and lead author of the study.
I have a movement meter
The researchers followed 3,300 people in Umeå municipality between 2012 and 2017. They all got motion meters to use for a week. The meters recorded physical activity and sedentary lifestyle.
The participants were then followed up after about two and a half years and, through patient and death records, the researchers were able to analyze the risk of having a stroke, heart attack or premature death.
The results, published in the scientific journal Sports Medicine, show that for every half hour of low intensity physical activity per day, the risk decreases by 11 percent, and for every half hour of moderate physical activity per day, the risk decreases up to 36 percent. For every hour of sitting per day, the risk increases by 33 percent.
Factors such as people’s smoking, socioeconomic status, medication, sex, previous illness, and metabolism were also taken into account.
Put at home
Marcel Ballin says that with age it becomes more difficult to achieve greater physical intensity due to a number of different factors. Being able to show that low intensity activity makes a difference in the health of older people is especially important because this is the activity that older people engage in most on a daily basis.
– The simple act of walking, strolling, or performing daily housework can generally be classified as a low intensity activity, while something like gardening can be considered moderately intense. Low-intensity activity is simply more about doing this at home, daily tasks, and movement in general, Ballin says.
When it comes to increasing activity from moderate to very intense, it is important to remember not to go too fast but to be careful to increase the intensity gradually. Regardless of the intensity, in any case, every movement counts.
– As soon as you break sedentary lifestyle and do something, positive things start to happen in the body, says Marcel Ballin.
Under crown
With an increasing average age in the population and more older people, more people are statistically likely to get cardiovascular disease if their lifestyle habits don’t change, according to the researchers. Therefore, reducing sedentary lifestyle is important for public health.
The issue came to the fore during the corona pandemic when the Swedish Public Health Agency introduced restrictions for people over the age of 70. More people have likely been sitting indoors and working out in the gym or in a group has become more difficult. Marcel Ballin believes that the elderly have had to make great sacrifices during the pandemic.
– In the longer term, I think we will see a lot of data and studies on how these restrictions have affected various aspects of human health. The elderly have become very limited, but it is important to emphasize that the Swedish Public Health Agency has also noted that you can still be away from home if you keep your distance.
Studies on what happens when activity is restricted in the elderly show that it can have negative effects on health in a short time.
– In some cases, it may be difficult to get back everything you have lost in such a situation. It is an important area, it will be personal for me because I do research on physical activity and the health of older people, so it is something that worries if they move less and less, says Marcel Ballin.
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