Moderate Exercise Relaxes Blood Vessels

Moderate exercise might help older adults' blood vessels relax, a study has found - pointing to one reason why exercise lowers the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

As people age, their blood vessels can become more constricted and less pliable in response to blood flow, a change that contributes to high blood pressure and clogged arteries.

But in the new study, older men who took up regular exercise were able to substantially reduce this effect of ageing.

The findings are good news for sedentary older adults, researchers say, because the benefit required only moderate activity - namely, taking a walk five times a week.

"This is exercise that I would stress can be done by most older adults," said senior study author Dr Christopher A. DeSouza of the University of Colorado in Boulder.

He and his colleagues report the findings in the medical journal Hypertension.

The study included 28 healthy but sedentary men: 13 in their 20s and 15 in their 60s. For the first phase of the research, DeSouza and his colleagues used a test called plethysmography to measure blood vessel function in each man's forearm. They found that the older men's blood vessels were generally more constricted than those of their younger counterparts.

Next, the researchers had eight of the older men begin a three-month exercise program, while the rest remained sedentary. The exercisers worked out moderately, typically walking for about an hour, five days per week.

At the end of the three months, the exercise group showed a sharp turnaround in blood vessel constriction - with test results looking more like those of the younger men from the earlier study than the sedentary group their own age.

The improvement in blood vessel function occurred without improvements in the men's weight, body fat, blood pressure or other traditional indicators of heart health.

This is important, DeSouza told Reuters Health, because even if people aren't seeing obvious benefits from exercise - like a smaller waistline - they may still be making improvements on the inside.

Another key point, he noted, is that all of the older men in the study had been long-time couch potatoes, yet were still able to benefit from starting an exercise routine in their 60s.

"It's that old adage, 'It's never too late to start," DeSouza said.

Sphere: Related Content

How To Reduce Stress

“AMERICA’S #1 Health Problem.” So reads the headline of an article published by the American Institute of Stress that claims the biggest threat to health today is neither cancer nor AIDS. The report says: “It has been estimated that 75-90 percent of all visits to primary care physicians are for stress related problems.”

It is no exaggeration to say that people today are being assaulted by stress. According to the National Consumers League, “work is the top source of stress for adults who have problems and stress in their lives (39%), followed by family (30%). Other sources include health (10%), concern about the economy (9%) and concern about international conflict and terrorism (4%).”

However, stress is hardly unique to the United States. A British survey in 2002 estimated that “over half a million individuals in Britain believed in 2001/2 that they were experiencing work-related stress at a level that was making them ill.” As a result of “work-related stress, depression or anxiety,” there are “an estimated thirteen and a half million reported lost working days per year in Britain.”
The picture is no less bleak in mainland Europe. According to the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, “work-related stress has been shown to affect millions of European workers across all types of employment sectors.” One survey revealed that there are “about 41 million [European Union] workers affected by work-related stress each year.”

What about Asia? A report issued by a conference held in Tokyo concluded: “Job stress is a common concern among many countries in the world, both developing and industrialized countries.” The report observed that “several countries in East Asia, including China, Korea and Taiwan, have rapidly industrialized and economically grown. These countries now have a lot of concerns on job stress and its adverse effects on worker health.”
However there are a few things you can practically do to reduce Stress:
* Give your body sufficient rest each day
* Maintain a reasonable diet. Avoid overeating
* Engage in proper and regular exercise, such as brisk walking
* If something worries you, talk to a friend about it
* Spend more time enjoying your family
* Delegate or share household chores
* Know your own physical and emotional limitations
* Set realistic goals; do not be a perfectionist
* Be organized; have a balanced, reasonable schedule
* Cultivate godly qualities such as mildness and patience
* Set aside some time for yourself

Sphere: Related Content