Researchers have found that moderate exercise could halve¹ the risk of dying from a heart attack for someone in their fifties or sixties.

 

Coronary heart disease is the UK's single biggest killer², causing one death every seven seconds, and exercise has long been seen as a way to reduce the risks by cutting obesity³ and diabetes⁴.

 

A new study presented at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress suggested that regular exercise can increase life span.

 

A group of 69 healthy non-smokers, aged⁵ between 30 and 60, who did not take regular exercise were tested as part of the study at Saarland University in Germany.

 

Blood tests taken during six months of regular aerobic⁶ exercise, high-intensity interval⁷ training and strength training showed that an anti-ageing process had been triggered and helped repair old DNA⁸.

 

"This suggests that when people exercise regularly, they may be able to retard⁹ the process of ageing," said Sanjay Sharma, professor of inherited cardiac diseases in sports cardiology at St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in London.

 

"We may never avoid be-coming completely old, but we may delay the time we become old. We may look younger when we're 70 and may live into our nineties.

 

"Exercise buys you three to seven additional years of life. It is an antidepressant, it improves cognitive¹⁰ function and there is now evidence that it may retard the onset¹¹ of dementia."

 

The advice from experts is that everyone should do at least 20 minutes of walking or jogging a day, given the sedentary lifestyles and changes in diet that have contributed to high death rates from heart disease. Exercise can also improve brain functioning.

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