Numerous studies have apparently exhibited that being physically fit may prove to be quite advantageous in terms of health in the long run. A new study claims that women who walked for two or more hours a week or who generally walk at a quick pace, around miles per hour or more seemed to have a considerably lower risk of stroke as compared to women who didn’t walk. The risks appeared to be lesser for total stroke, clot-related (ischemic) stroke and bleeding (hemorrhagic) stroke.
As opposed to women who did not walk, women who regularly walked at a fast pace encompassed a 37 percent lower risk of any kind of stroke and those who walked for two or more hours a week apparently had a 30 percent lower risk of any sort of stroke. Women who generally walked at a rapid pace supposedly had a 68 percent lower threat of hemorrhagic stroke and those who walked for two or more hours a week had a 57 percent lesser danger of hemorrhagic stroke. Women with brisk pace appeared to have encompassed a lower risk of ischemic stroke and those who regularly walked for over two hours a week apparently had a 21 percent lower risk of ischemic stroke, both ‘borderline significant,’ as per study authors.
“Physical activity, including regular walking, is an important modifiable behavior for stroke prevention. Physical activity is essential to promoting cardiovascular health and reducing risk of cardiovascular disease, and walking is one way of achieving physical activity,†commented, Jacob R. Sattelmair, M.Sc., lead author and doctoral candidate in epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Mass.
Study authors tracked around 39,315 U.S. female health professionals taking part in the Women’s Health Study, with the average age being 54 and the subjects were mostly white. Every two to three years, volunteers accounted their leisure-time physical activity during the past year, particularly time spent walking or hiking, jogging, running, biking, doing aerobic exercise/aerobic dance, using exercise machines, playing tennis/squash/racquetball, swimming, doing yoga and stretching/toning. Also, no household, work-related activity or inactive behaviors were apparently evaluated. Supposedly, they also accounted their standard walking pace as no walking, casual i.e. about 2 mph, normal i.e. 2–2.9 mph, brisk i.e. 3–3.9 mph or exceedingly brisk i.e. 4 mph.
During 11.9 years of follow-up, roughly 579 women suffered from stroke. Out of them, roughly 473 were ischemic, 102 were hemorrhagic and four appeared to be the unknown kind. Women who seemed to be the most active in their leisure time activities had 17 percent less chances to experience any kind of stroke as opposed to the least-active women. Study authors apparently did not discover any association between healthy activity and decreased stroke risk.
An inverse link between physical activity and stroke risk is said to be steady across genders. But there tend to be dissimilarities between men and women concenrcing stroke threat and physical activity patterns. The study is incomplete since it was observational and physical activity was apparently self-reported. More study is seemingly required on more hemorrhagic strokes and with more racially diverse women.
The American Heart Association advises for considerable health gains, adults ought to do at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity or a grouping of both.
The study was published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.