Walking for just 25 minutes a day can add up to seven years to your life, and also delay the aging process, health experts at the European Society of Cardiology Congress have said.
The German study by researchers at the Saarland University put men and women, aged between 30 and 60, who until then they had not been regular exercisers, on a daily program of exercise. The study then tracked key markers of aging in the blood which showed changes in the body that help to repair the DNA within just six months.
"This study is very relevant. It suggests that when people exercise regularly they may be able to retard the process of aging. We may never avoid becoming completely old, but we may delay the time we become old. We may look younger when we're 70 and may live into our 90s. Exercise buys you three to seven additional years of life. It is an anti-depressant, it improves cognitive function and there is now evidence that it may retard the onset of dementia," said Sanjay Sharma, professor of inherited cardiac diseases in sports cardiology at St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in south London.
Sharma added that the risk of dying from a heart attack was reduced by half for the average person in their 50s and 60s who did moderately exercise, reports The Guardian.
"The study brings a bit more understanding of why physical activity has that effect. It helps us understand the process of cellular aging, as that's what drives our organ system and body aging, and the effects physical activity can have on the cellular level. The more active you are, and it doesn't matter when you start, the more benefit you are going to have," said Christi Deaton, Florence Nightingale Foundation Professor of Clinical Nursing Research at Cambridge Institute of Public Health, according to The Independent.
"We know that regular exercise reduces your risk of cardiovascular disease. This study provides a possible mechanism for how this is achieved. Regardless of the underlying process, however, everyone should try to do 150 minutes of exercise a week to help them stay heart healthy," said Professor Peter Weissberg, Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, reports The Telegraph.
