Welcome back to a series of articles that I am going to be writing about the effects of exercise and the benefits it has as you age and why you should continue exercising no matter how old you are. Last time we covered the general background situation that the UK currently faces of an aging population and increasing health cost bills and also looked at how reductions in activity levels lead to increases in poor health. This blog post will look at what benefits there are for exercising and the evidence behind this.

Health & Safety Alert: Despite exercise being in general safe, you should always seek medical advice before embarking upon a new programme of exercise.

There are a huge array of benefits of exercising at any age and especially if you are older (in fact it could be argued that there are more benefits). The science supporting this is overwhelming and pretty incontrovertible and for once as a physiotherapist it is nice not to have to worry about presenting both sides of an argument. Approximately 11 years ago The Wanless Report (Wanless 2002) examined the health of the nation with a view to making recommendations for public policy and found that chronic diseases (all of which have been linked to inactivity) rather than infectious diseases represented the major public health challenges. They also found that those who were active had a 20 to 30% lower risk of mortality than those who were inactive!! I’ll say that again – people who exercised had a 20 to 30% lower chance of dying than those who were inactive! Basically if you are inactive and do little but wish to improve your chances of living to a healthy old age by 20 to 30% then do some exercise! Amazingly simple and yet effective…

Now I know some people reading this will be skeptical (which is the right way to view research and statistics) and think that maybe they made an error or were biased but these numbers and findings have been confirmed many times since.  For example the Chief Medical Officer in his report Start Active Stay Active (DoH 2011) found that those who did the recommended amount of weekly exercise had the following benefits:

• 20 to 35% reduction in cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease and stroke.
• 30-40% reduction in risk of type 2 diabetes
• 36 to 68% reduction in risk of hip fractures
• 22 to 83% reduction in risk of osteoarthritis
• 30% lower risk of colon cancer and 20% reduction in breast cancer risk.
• 20 to 30% lower risk of depression and dementia

I could go on for quite a while listing reports and large data sets showing the clear links between exercising and reductions in ill health but I think the information above is pretty clear. Not only are you less likely to die from something like a stroke or heart attack but you will also very likely have a much better quality of life because you will have less chance of getting type 2 diabetes, fracturing your hip, getting arthritis and suffering from depression or dementia. To gain all these benefits you just have to exercise!!

Now I can hear some people saying but you need to be young and have exercised for a long time to get these benefits. “I’m too old to get any benefit now”. Well you are wrong and we shall look at why that idea is wrong in our next blog post!

Just to remind anyone who has just come across this blog: we are a home visit physiotherapy service based in Lichfield and serving Staffordshire and the Midlands. If you live anywhere within a 45 minute drive of Lichfield such as Solihull, Four Oaks, Aldridge, Stafford, Rugeley, Shenstone, Walsall, Derby, Burton and Cannock to name but a few places that we provide physiotherapy, sports massage, rehabiltation and myofascial release to. As per usual if you want any further information about physiotherapy, pain, injuries, rehabilitation, sports massage or myofascial release then give us a call on 07884 281623, email us at enquiries@threespiresphysiotherapy.co.uk or use the contact form.

References:

Department of Health (2011) Start Active, Stay Active: A report on physical activity from the four home countries’ Chief Medical Officers London HMSO

Wanless D. (2002) Securing good health for the whole population: Population health trends. London: HMSO