Moving Aids Healthy Aging: Study finds

DLHA Staff Reporter. Medical and Editorial review provided by the DLHA Team.

Black elderly couple brisk walking in a park.

The best takeaway from the study is that to live a healthy 70 years and beyond, free of chronic ailments, you should consider moving more whether at work or home; stand more or walk around more, engage in light to moderate exercise or activities of daily living and spend less time seated for more than 30 minutes at a time.

June 15, 2024. A new study published in JAMA Network Open, on June 11, 2024 found that if you want to age healthily, you need to stay active and reduce your sitting time.

The study defines healthy aging as living to 70 years and beyond while maintaining good physical and mental health without major chronic diseases and  memory problems.

The study reviewed 20 years of data on more than 45,000 women participants in the US Nurses’ Health Study. All participants were at least age 50 in 1992 when they were enrolled in the study and were free of chronic disease.

Researchers examined data on lifestyle habits of participants, like time spent sitting at work, or at home watching television, as well as time spent at home or work standing or walking. The data was linked to information on how healthy (or not) participants aged over time.

The researchers found one particular activity; watching television while seated on a couch to be very unhealthy. Participants who replaced this unhealthy activity with light physical activity, moderate to vigorous physical activity, or sleep [in those with inadequate sleep] had better odds of healthy aging.

More specifically, the researchers found that the odds of living to a healthy 70 years and beyond rose by 8% when "light" physical activity in the home, e.g., routine housework, replaced every hour per day of seated TV watching; and by a remarkable 28% when that hour of seated TV watching was replaced by "moderately vigorous" physical activity, like a workout,

Additionally, participants who got less than the recommended seven hours of sleep per night gained a benefit in healthy aging if they got an extra hour of sleep each day instead of an hour spent watching TV seated.

Apparently, when people are sedentary watching TV, they tend to engage in other unhealthy activities, like eating junk food, drinking sugary beverages or beer, being isolated and not connecting with others, and not getting sufficient sleep. All of these raise heart and high blood pressure risks. On the other hand, any form of exercise, for any length of time, truly reduces these risks.

The best takeaway from the study is that to live a healthy 70 years and beyond, free of chronic ailments, you should consider moving more whether at work or home; stand or walk around more, engage in light to moderate exercise or activities of daily living and spend less time seated for more than 30 minutes at a time.

Source

Shi H, Hu FB, Huang T, et al. Sedentary Behaviors, Light-Intensity Physical Activity, and Healthy Aging. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(6):e2416300. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.16300. Available from here

Related:

 Is exercise good for heart health?

Does exercise promote general health?

Getting good sleep may add years to your life

Published: June 15, 2024

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