Exercise Lowers the Risk of Strokes: Study

A recent study published in the journal, Stroke, says that regular exercises reduce the risk of strokes.

The study was done by a team of researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  Strokes are a leading cause of death in the United States and nearly 800,000 people each year die from it, reports Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.   

To prove their hypothesis, they conducted a study on 27,000  people over the age of 45 and with no history of strokes. They had participated in the United States from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study cohort. In this study researchers evaluated the link of self reported physical activity with incidents of strokes.

They further divided the participants into three groups, namely 'active' (with no workouts in a typical week), 'moderately active' (who workout one-three times per week) and vigorously active (who workout four times per week). The researchers followed these participants for an average of 5.7 years.

On evaluating the participants they noticed that 33 percent reported being physically inactive and their risk of stroke went up 20 percent. The participants who exercised at least four times a week were less likely to suffer strokes. Those men who exercised four or more times a week had lower risk of strokes but the association of stroke and the frequency of exercise among women was less clear.

"The protective effect of intense physical activity may be through its impact on traditional risk factors such as hypertension and diabetes," said Virginia Howard, Ph.D., UAB professor of epidemiology and senior study author. "These findings confirm past results of studies done in only men or only women in limited geographical areas. By using the REGARDS cohort, our study was able to use a larger and more diverse population to show that participating in regular physical activity is associated with lower stroke risk."

Howard states that it is plausible to prevent strokes and one of the major modifiable risk factor for strokes is physical activity.

The finding has a certain drawback as it is based on self reported levels of physical activity, which is not always accurate. Apart from this, the researchers have no knowledge about the time people spend in physical activities.  However, in future the researchers plan on using devices such as accelerometers and heart monitors that can provide more objective data; and capture precise data on physical activity.