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Fitness & Exercise for Senior Citizens
Senior Citizens Can Avoid Dreaded, Deadly MetS With
Brisk Walking
Rate of Metabolic Syndrome reduced by walking 11
miles a week
|
short period of very vigorous exercise didn't improve their MetS
scores as much as those who performed less intense exercise a
longer period. |
Dec. 17, 2007 One of the things senior citizens
do not want to have is a new buzz-word condition called MetS. That
stands for metabolic syndrome, an increasingly frequent condition linked
to obesity and a sedentary lifestyle. A new study says just a little bit
of brisk walking is enough to cut the risk of MetS, and to trim the
waistline.
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Its estimated that about a quarter of all U.S.
adults have MetS, a cluster of risk factors associated with greater
likelihood of developing heart disease, diabetes and stroke:
1. large waist circumference,
2. high blood pressure,
3. high levels of triglycerides,
4. low amounts of HDL, or good cholesterol, and
5. high blood sugar.
To be diagnosed with MetS, patients must have at
least three of these five risk factors, and according to many studies, a
growing number of people do.
But Johanna Johnson, a clinical researcher at Duke
Medical Center and the lead author of a new study examining the impact
of exercise on MetS, said a person can lower risk of MetS by walking
just 30 minutes a day, six days per week.
Thats about 11 miles per week. And our study
shows that youll benefit even if you dont make any dietary changes.
The results of our study underscore what we have
known for a long time, said Duke cardiologist William Kraus.
Some exercise is better than none; more exercise
is generally better than less, and no exercise can be disastrous.
The study appears in the December 15 issue of the
American Journal of Cardiology.
The results come from a multi-year, federally
funded study called STRRIDE (Studies of a Targeted Risk Reduction
Intervention through Defined Exercise) that examined the effects of
varying amounts and intensity of exercise on 171 middle-aged, overweight
men and women.
Before exercising regularly, 41 percent of the
participants met the criteria for MetS. At the end of the 8-month
exercise program, only 27 percent did.
Thats a significant decline in prevalence, said
Johnson. Its also encouraging news for sedentary, middle-aged adults
who want to improve their health. It means they dont have to go out
running four or five days a week; they can get significant health
benefits by simply walking around the neighborhood after dinner every
night.
Still, some exercise regimens were better than
others.
Those who exercised the least, walking about 11 miles per week,
gained significant benefit, while those who exercised the most, jogging
about 17 miles per week, gained slightly more benefit in terms of
lowered MetS scores.
Short, vigorous exercise
One group puzzled the researchers, however. Those
who did a short period of very vigorous exercise didn't improve their
MetS scores as much as those who performed less intense exercise a
longer period.
Kraus said there may be more value in doing
moderate intensity exercise every day rather than more intense activity
just a few days a week.
In all three of the study's exercise groups,
waistlines got smaller over the 8-month period. In general, men who
exercised saw greater improvement in their MetS risk factors than women.
But Johnson points out that at baseline, the men generally had worse
scores than women, so they had more room to improve, she said.
Over the course of the STRRIDE study, the inactive
control group those who didnt change their diet or activity level at
all gained an average of about one pound and a half-inch around the
waist.
That may not sound like much, but thats just six months," Kraus
said.
"Over a decade, thats an additional 20 pounds and 10 inches at
the beltline.
Editors Notes:
The study was funded by the National Institutes of
Health.
Colleagues at Duke who contributed to the study
include Cris Slentz, Gregory Samsa, Lori Bateman and Brian Duscha.
Collaborating authors from East Carolina University include Joseph
Houmard, Jennifer McCartney and Charles Tanner.
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