Chronic health problems can also contribute to weakness and frailty. Most people lose some muscle mass, bone density and flexibility as they age. Some types of physical activity, such as resistance training and flexibility exercises, can improve physical changes that come with ageing. Can physical activity ‘slow down’ the ageing process? Even a few minutes of walking or stretching is beneficial. So it’s a good idea to break up long periods of sitting with physical activity. reduce pain from conditions such as arthritisĬonversely, spending a lot of time sitting down (being sedentary) may increase the risk of health conditions.Exercise also helps keep your mind active and improves your quality of life.Įven a small increase in daily physical activity can reduce your risk of health conditions such as:ĪRE YOU AT RISK? - Are you at risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease or kidney disease? Use the Risk Checker to find out. There’s a host of health reasons to stay active and it doesn’t have to be ‘serious business’ - being active can be fun, especially if you can socialise at the same time. Whatever your age, you can enjoy the benefits of physical activity. Related information on Australian websites.Myths about physical activity and older people.How do I stay motivated to keep active?.How can older people start exercising safely?.What types of exercise should older people be doing?.How much physical activity do older people need?.Can physical activity ‘slow down’ the ageing process?.Consider exercising with a friend, and choose activities you enjoy, to help you stay motivated.Strength and weight-bearing activities can increase bone density, helping to prevent osteoporosis.Aim for about 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on most days, but any amount of activity is beneficial - even just a few minutes.Keeping active helps you stay physically and mentally strong.A national cohort study of 402,681 US adults. Association of physical activity intensity with mortality. Commenting on these results, the authors suggested that public health message should be that individuals need to perform at least 150 minutes per week of MPA and that increasing the amount of VPA within this regime, leads to greater mortality benefits.Ĭitation Wang Y et al. With respect to the duration of MPA, the results suggested that performing 150 to 299 minutes of MPA and 150 minutes or more of VPA had the lowest all-cause mortality risk. Further increases in VPA did not lead to a greater reduction in any cause of mortality. Furthermore, there was also a significant reduction in the risk of cardiovascular (HR = 0.83) and cancer (HR = 0.80) mortality. When compared to individuals performing no VPA, if VPA represented between 50 and 75% of all physical activity, there was a 17% reduction in all-cause mortality (hazard ratio, HR = 0.83, 95% CI 0.79 – 0.91, p < 0.001). The amount of VPA undertaken varied and just over a fifth (21.3%) of participants reported that VPA accounted for between 50 and 75% of their total physical activity. These individuals were followed for a median of 10.1 years and over which time there were 36,861 deaths. The outcomes of interest were mortality and divided into: all-cause mortality cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality.Ī total of 403,681 individuals (51.7% female) with an average age of 42.8 years were included in the analysis. The researchers calculated the amount of MPA undertaken and the proportion of VPA as a percentage of the total MPA. Within the NHIS survey, questions sought answers on how frequently individuals undertook MPA, how long it lasted and whether this activity included any VPA, defined as an activity that caused heavy sweating or a large increase in heart rate. The NHIS data included information on self-reported levels of physical activity and was linked to the national death index records through to the end of December 2015, allowing the researchers to track both activity levels and related deaths. The team retrospectively analysed data acquired from a national health interview survey (NHIS) conducted between 1997-2013. Nevertheless, how much VPA needs to be incorporated into any form of MPA to derive a mortality benefit remains unclear.Ī study published by a team from the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Wuhan, China, has offered some insight into the amount of vigorous physical activity that needs to be done to gain a mortality advantage. It has been suggested that undertaking vigorous physical activity (VPA) might offer additional mortality benefits compared to MPA alone. Regular, moderate intensity physical activity (MPA) is known to be associated with a reduction in mortality but a study has suggested that making MPA more vigorous could offer additional health benefits.
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