Asian Scientist (Jul. 23, 2013) – Here’s yet another reason to get off the couch: new research findings suggest that regularly breaking a sweat may lower the risk of having a stroke.
A stroke can occur when a blood vessel in the brain gets blocked. As a result, nearby brain cells will die after not getting enough oxygen and other nutrients. A number of risk factors for stroke have been identified, including smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes and being inactive.
For this study, published in the journal Stroke, Australian and US researchers obtained data from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study. REGARDS is a large, long-term study looking at the reasons behind the higher rates of stroke mortality among African-Americans and other residents living in the Southeastern United States.
Over 30,000 participants supplied their medical history over the phone. The researchers also visited them to obtain health measures such as body mass index and blood pressure.
At the beginning of the study, the researchers asked participants how many times per week they exercised vigorously enough to work up a sweat. The researchers contacted participants every six months to see if they had experienced a stroke or a mini-stroke known as a transient ischemic attack (TIA).
The researchers reported data for over 27,000 participants who were stroke-free at the start of the study and followed for an average of 5.7 years. One-third of participants reported exercising less than once a week. Study subjects who were inactive were 20 percent more likely to experience a stroke or TIA than participants who exercised four or more times a week.
The findings revealed that regular, moderately vigorous exercise, enough to break a sweat, was linked to reduced risk of stroke. Part of the protective effect was due to lower rates of known stroke risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity and smoking.
The researchers also looked at the data according to gender: men who exercised at least four times a week had a lower risk of stroke than men who exercised one to three times per week. In contrast, there was no association between frequency of exercise and stroke risk among women in the study.
However, there was a trend towards a similar reduction in stroke risk for women who exercised compared to those who were inactive.
“This could be related to differences in the type, duration, and intensity of physical activity between men and women,” said Dr. Virginia Howard, senior author of the study.
“This could also be due to differences in the perception of what is intense physical activity enough to work up a sweat.”
According to Dr. Howard, the results should encourage doctors to stress the importance of exercise when speaking with their patients.
“Physical inactivity is a major modifiable risk factor for stroke. This should be emphasized in routine physician check-ups along with general education about the benefits of exercise on stroke risk factors including high blood pressure, diabetes and being overweight or obese,” she said.
The study suggests that men should consider exercising at least four times a week.
REGARDS will continue to assess stroke risk factors to look for long-term patterns in the study population.
The article can be found at: McDonnell et al. (2013) Physical Activity Frequency And Risk of Incident Stroke In A National U.S. Study Of Blacks and Whites.
——
Source: AHA; Photo: mikebaird/Flickr.
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.
