Exercise at age 60 reduces risk of death

MADRID (EFE).— People who engage in physical activity from the age of 60 reduce their risk of death or cardiovascular disease by 30 to 40%, according to a study based on monitoring the health of more than 14,000 women for almost ten years.

The findings of this study by Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, published yesterday in the scientific journal “Jama Internal Medicine”, show that it does not matter whether physical activity is measured by steps or by exercise intensity, since the important thing is to practice it at any age.

For this study, researchers fitted 14,399 healthy women over age 62 who were participating in the hospital’s women’s health studies with fitness trackers and followed them from 2011 to 2022. During that period, researchers sent annual questionnaires to the participants to determine their health status and, if they died, to determine whether their death was due to cardiovascular disease.

Records from the physical activity monitoring device indicated that participants performed an average of 62 minutes of moderate- or vigorous-intensity physical activity per week and accumulated an average of 5,183 steps per day.

After 9 years of follow-up, approximately 9% of the participants had died and 4% had developed cardiovascular disease. The association of physical activity and health data indicated that “the more exercise participants did, the lower their risk of death or cardiovascular disease,” the authors note.

This survival advantage was maintained regardless of differences in body mass index.

In addition, researchers have found that exercise also reduces the risk of contracting other chronic diseases and infections, and promotes longevity.

The authors conclude that the most widely used metrics for measuring physical activity, steps and exercise intensity, are equally useful for observing people’s health status, with slight differences between them.

U.S. health recommendations, cited in the study, call for adults to get at least 150 minutes of moderate-to-intense physical activity (such as brisk walking) or 75 minutes of high-impact activity (such as jogging) a week.