Take a walk

Nutrition Action Healthletter, Oct, 1998 by Bonnie Liebman

It's never too late to get up off the couch and move, says a new report from the British Regional Heart Study.

S. Goya Wannamethee and colleagues at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine in London studied more than 4,000 men aged 52 to 72 who had filled out questionnaires about their exercise habits in 1978 and again in 1992. Anyone who reported a history of heart disease, stroke, "other heart trouble," or "poor health" was excluded.

Men who walked at least an hour a day in 1992 had a 38 percent lower risk of dying during the study than men who were sedentary. And men who were sedentary in 1978 and began at least "light" activity by 1992 had a 45 percent lower risk of dying than men who remained inactive.

"Encouraging older men to increase their physical activity gradually and regularly would help to maintain mobility, to prolong independence, and to reduce the risk of heart attacks and mortality," wrote the authors. The same goes for women.