High Blood Pressure - Exercise - Risk of Death Here's the simple truth - if you have high blood pressure then regular exercise will significantly prolong your life. Moderate exercise is a critically important part of maintaining good health. People who are physically active are less likely than their sedentary counterparts to develop chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure and other heart or cardiovascular disease. There is a strong link between physical activity and death rates. In particular, physical activity is associated with a reduction in the risk of death due to heart disease. The amount of physical activity that you undertake will predict your risk of early death even if you have multiple heart risk factors or if you already have heart disease. (Risk factors include having high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol and smoking). Many of us the the Western World have a high risk of heart disease because of our lifestyle habits and our body weight. Many good research studies show at most risk tend to be more sedentary. Could this be you - do you fit this description? If you do then for goodness sake do something about it .. Now! A recent research study looked at nearly a thousand American adults below retirement age. They followed these people for eight years and collected a huge amount of data about their health and their lifestyle. The study found that those with risk factors for heart disease were about thirty percent more likely to die than the rest of the population. They were also more likely to live a sedentary lifestyle. Taking regular light or moderate exercise reduced the risk of early death by a dramatic amount. What's the message? We should all be more active. If you have high blood pressure, are overweight, have diabetes, a high cholesterol or are a smoker (or more than one of these risks) - then you need to increase your level of exercise ... and start now. Your life, quite literally, depends on it! |
