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 Researchers examined three decades of data on 3,307 adults who had
been diagnosed with coronary heart disease after a heart attack or
an episode of severe chest pain, known as angina, caused by
inadequate blood supply to the heart. By the time half of the
patients had been in the study for at least 15 years, 1,493 of them
had died.
Compared to people who were inactive, participants who consistently
got the minimum recommended amount of exercise for adults were 36
percent less likely to die during the study. If these very active
people scaled back their workouts over time, they were still 26
percent less likely to die than sedentary individuals.
And even a little exercise was tied to a longer life.
People who consistently exercised, though less than the average,
were still 19 percent less likely to die than sedentary
participants. And if these less active individuals stopped
exercising during the study they were still 18 percent less likely
to die than people who never exercised at all.
“This is important as most individuals tend to change their levels
of activity over time,” said lead study author Trine Moholdt, a
researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in
Trondheim.
“The take-home message for patients is that they should keep on
moving,” Moholdt said by email. “And even if they have been inactive
so far, it is never too late to start.”
The World Health Organization recommends that adults aged 18 to 64
get at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise or
at least 75 minutes of intense activity every week. Ideally, each
exercise session should be at least 10 minutes long.
Moderate activities can include things like walking, gardening,
ballroom dancing, water aerobics, or taking a leisurely bike ride.
Vigorous exercise includes things like jogging, lap swimming, and
cycling at a pace of at least 10 miles an hour, according to the
American Heart Association.
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When participants joined the current study, they were typically in
their late 60s. Almost half of them were inactive, and many were
overweight or obese.
Losing weight didn’t appear linked to better survival odds,
researchers report in the Journal of the American College of
Cardiology.
Instead, people who lost weight were 36 percent more likely to die
of cardiovascular disease during the study. Gaining weight wasn’t
associated with higher odds of premature death.
One of the study’s limitations is that researchers lacked data on
whether any weight loss was intentional or related to health
problems.
The analysis wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove
whether or how changes in activity levels or weight might impact
longevity.
“We have known for decades that maintaining a healthy weight and
being physically active were independently associated with lower
risks of experiencing a coronary heart disease event or of dying
from any cause,” said Claude Bouchard of the Pennington Biomedical
Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
This study offers fresh evidence that it matters how people lose
weight, Bouchard, author of an accompanying editorial, said by
email.
“There is no doubt that weight loss or weight maintenance programs
that incorporate exercise are healthier than programs based solely
on caloric restriction, even though the latter carries also multiple
health benefits,” Bouchard said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2FmKwnl and http://bit.ly/2oZP4oK Journal of
the American College of Cardiology, online March 5, 2018.
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