Keeping fit in middle age reduces the risk of dangerous diseases and strokes
Study of thousands finds that even moderate exercise in your 40s could reduce your risk of stroke by 37 per cent
KEEPING fit in middle age makes you less likely to have a stroke, a study has found.
People in good shape in their mid-40s had a 37 per cent lower risk of stroke after the age of 65 compared to people with the lowest fitness levels.
Exercising in middle age also helped people with long term conditions such as high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes and atrial fibrillation – a heart condition that causes an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate.
Scientists from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre said the findings showed how important it was to keep exercising throughout life to maintain good health in old age.
Strokes – where the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off – affect around 110,000 Brits a year.
They are the third largest cause of death, after heart disease and cancer, while brain injuries caused by strokes are a major cause of adult disability in the UK.
The study’s first author Dr Ambarish Pandey said: “We all hear that exercise is good for you, but many people still don’t do it.
“Our hope is that this objective data on preventing a fatal disease such as stroke, will help motivate people to get moving and get fit.”
He added: “Our research suggests that low fitness in midlife is an additional risk to target and help prevent stroke later in life.”
Researchers studied 19,815 adults aged 45 to 50 from 1999 to 2009. They checked how fit they were by measuring their heart and lung capacity while on a treadmill.
The patients were categorised into either having high, middle or low levels of fitness. This was then compared to their medical records to see what health problems they had later in life.
Co-author Dr Benjamin Willis, of The Cooper Institute, said: “In this study we see an association between fitness and reduced risk of the serious health event of stroke even in the presence of other chronic conditions.”
The study was published in the journal Stroke.
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