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YOU SHOULD KEEP FIT TO EVEN IF YOU HAVE HIGH CHOLESTEROL
YOUR HEART ATTACK RISK COULD BE CUT IN HALF Men can reduce their odds of dying from heart disease in
1/2 in about the time it takes to watch a good movie, new
research shows.
Being fit enough to walk for around an hour and a half each week cut heart disease death risk by 50% -- even in men who had high cholesterol -- according to a study now in Circulation. "The message for men is clear. Fitness does counts and it is time to get in shape," says researcher Peter Katzmarzyk, PhD, in an American Heart Association press release. Cholesterol Study Katzmarzyk is an associate professor at the School of Physical and Health Education at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. He and his colleagues have studied more than nineteen-thousand men for a 10 years. The men attended the Cooper Clinic in Dallas between 1979 and 1995. |
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At the clinic, the men completed health questionnaires, had preventive medical examinations, and undertook an exercise test. Some of the men had acceptable levels of LDL "bad" cholesterol. Others had high cholesterol requiring medication and in some cases lifestyle changes. Over the next ten years, 179 men died of heart disease. As expected, men with high cholesterol were more likely to die of heart disease than men with normal LDL levels. But fitness shifted the odds some. Fitness Findings Men who were physically fit were 1/2 as likely to die of heart disease as unfit men with similar cholesterol levels, the study shows. How fit did you haveto be? Their fitness test scores translate to about 4 or 5 workouts each week, each lasting thirty minutes. That's the equivalent of walking for 130-138 minutes per week, wrote the researchers. |
"We discovered that fitness is important across the board -- at every level of cholesterol," says Katzmarzyk.
Most of the men were white, college-educated professionals. It's not known if the results would be identical for men of other backgrounds or if participants' fitness habits altered over time.
However, fitness is now widely recommended as part of a good healthy lifestyle. The CDC recommends getting at least thirty minutes of moderate to intense physical activity 5 or more days per week or twenty minutes of high intensity training 3 or more times weekly.
you should see your doctor before beginning a fitness program. Health care professionals can also check your cholesterol levels and tailor a heart-health program to suit your needs.
The researchers have pinpointed two mechanisms by which alcohol helps reduce the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD).
"Most people think heart attacks are caused by continuous narrowing of the arteries (with plaque)," Victor said, "but it's not like that. Some people don't have much plaque but their plaque is tearing open and causing heart attacks."
"A heart attack was once considered to be an inevitable product of our lifestyle," he said, "but perhaps it's just an inflammatory process out of control."
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