Benefits of Exercise and your Life Expectancy
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Recent findings published in the American Heart Association Journal stated that there are even more benefits to daily exercise. Veterans Affairs researchers conducted a study on 15,660 participants that is proving that 30 minutes of walking or any type of physical activity a day can lower your risk of death by 50% or more. Although people have always been |
| aware that exercise is good for you, it has never been researched this in depth and with this many participants to further prove how much everyone needs daily exercise. | |
This study takes the time to compare the benefits of exercise on white and African American participants because blacks have a higher death rate on average. About 43% of the participants in this study were black. The average age of each participant was 60 years old and they each took place in a treadmill test used to determine their fitness levels. They were then placed in 4 different groups from very low fitness to extremely well fit. This study included an eight year follow up to see who was still alive.
The researchers clearly found that as the fitness levels went up, the risk of mortality went down dramatically for both blacks and whites. In the least fit group, 44% died, moderately fit group 30% died, highly fit 15% died and extremely fit only 8%. As you can see exercise was a big factor in their mortality and was a great benefit to both blacks and whites alike. The researchers conducting this study believe that exercise was that much more beneficial to the black participants as stated above their death rate is much higher than whites on average.
Exercise can be any activity from taking a short bike ride, walking, a leisurely jog, swimming or rollerblading, the list can go on and on. You can take part in hundreds of different activities throughout the year, even during the winter such as skiing to keep yourself exercising regularly. As you get older of course you may not want to be flying down a ski slope but there are many gyms which accommodate for indoor walking and even treadmills to mix things up.
It is amazing how much a simple 30 minute walk can do for your health and your life and all it takes is a little scheduling and some dedication to get into the habit and start enjoying your exercise time. For many people it will start out as a hassle but eventually you will love your daily walks as I do or daily swims, whatever activity you choose will become a part of your daily routine. Simple exercise can affect your physical and mental health in so many ways, there is absolutely no reason not to include it as often as you can in your busy schedule. There are no excuses!
Staying healthy means you have to do so many things today and a simple daily walk should be one of them. Remember folks, you can reduce your risk of developing disease in the future by taking care of yourself today.
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Posted: January 27th, 2008 under Exercise, Life Expectancy.
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