It's never too late to start exercising!

July 19, 2006

According to German researchers it's never too late to start

exercising and even long time couch potatoes can reduce their risk of

heart disease, by just getting off the sofa and going for a walk.

Researchers at the University of Heidelberg in Germany say this need

not entail strenuous activity such as a work out at the gym, and just

walking can make a difference.

Dr. Dietrich Rothenbacher of the University of Heidelberg says people

who change their physical activity patterns in late adult life reduce

their risk for coronary heart disease.

Rothenbacher, an epidemiologist at the university and his team

studied the impact of physical activity on patients with coronary

heart disease (CHD) and a group of healthy volunteers of the same age

and sex.

They found that people who exercised throughout their lives had the

lowest risk of the disease, which is one of the biggest killers in

industrialized countries, but they also found that people who changed

their physical activity patterns in late adult life also reduced

their risk for CHD.

The scientists based their findings on 312 adults between the ages of

40 and 68 who had confirmed coronary artery disease and 479

volunteers matched for age and sex.

Each participant was interviewed about their level of physical

activity in early adulthood, classified as the period between 20 and

39, and in late adulthood, defined as the period after the age of 40.

Not surprisingly, known risk factors for CHD, including smoking,

diabetes, and high blood pressure tended to be more common among

those with confirmed disease.

They found that people who had been active throughout their lives had

about a 60 percent lower risk of being diagnosed with CHD but they

also found that those who changed their ways and began exercising

after the age of 40 were about 55 percent less likely to be diagnosed

with the illness than people who had always been inactive.

Rothenbacher suggests that while optimal health is likely to be

enjoyed by those who exercise all their lives, it is not too late to

start.

Regular exercise, even if started in older life, still confers many

benefits and substantially cuts the risk of heart disease.

The study is published in the journal Heart.

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