14 DAY TRIAL // Besides helping people stay fit and maintain a healthy body weight, regular physical exercise can lower stroke risk, new evidence suggests.
Researcher Michelle McDonnell at the University of South Australia explains that, first off, people who exercise just enough to break a sweat several times a week have healthier blood vessels than the ones who do not.
This directly lowers their risk of stroke, the specialist goes on to say.
Additionally, regular physical exercise lowers the risk of developing high blood pressure and becoming obese. Both these conditions have been linked to increased stroke risk, which is why keeping them under control can only help protect the brain.
To research how regular exercise influences stroke risk, the scientists monitored a total of 27,000 people in the United States for roughly 6 years.
The people the researchers kept a close eye on were all at least 45 years old at the beginning of the study, and none had ever suffered a stroke before.
Some of them said that they exercised four or more times a week, Web MD explains. Others admitted that they only exercised one to three times a week, and a third category told the scientists that they never worked up a sweat.
3.1% of the people who exercised most days suffered a stroke while the researchers were monitoring them. The percentages for the second and third category of people were 3.3% and 3.6%, respectively.
Oddly enough, it appears that men benefit more from a regular physical routine than most women do. Specialists are unable to say why this is the case.
Commenting on the findings of this investigation, Michelle McDonnell wished to point out that, “A healthy diet, healthy body weight, regular exercise along with a moderate alcohol consumption and not smoking combined can reduce your risk of stroke by 80 percent.”
“Here we show that regular physical activity is an important aspect of that and should be encouraged.”