Based on an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA 2002;288:p.1994-2000) Dr. Mihaela Tanasescu and his group from Loma Linda University in California have followed more than 44,000 health care professionals every 2 years for 12 years.
He asked the question whether a difference could be found between light, moderate or heavy exercise in the prevention of heart attacks.
Here is what they found: 1700 new cases of heart attacks as a result from hardening of arteries were mostly found in those who did NOT exercise or were in the LIGHT aerobic category. The more the persons exercised, the more pronounced the heart protective effect was. For instance, the group of men who engaged in a heavy exercise program had developed 17% less heart disease than the group with the light exercise program. Contrary to the marathon runner studies that had reported a detrimental effect at the high end, this study did not find this effect.
Also, this study is one of the first to show that weight training and other muscle strengthening activities also reduced strokes and heart attacks. Up to now the medical community was of the opinion that body building type muscle training might not prevent strokes or heart attacks.
More Exercise Leads To More Health
The authors concluded that a combination of aerobic exercises(brisk walking, running, sports etc.) with muscle strengthening exercises(body building, stretching exercises, weight lifting etc.) will give the most beneficial heart protecting health effect. Try these useful related links to chapters of my free Internet based Nethealthbook:
Hardening of the arteries:
http://www.nethealthbook.com/articles/cardiovasculardisease_heartdisease.php
Fitness:
http://nethealthbook.com/health-nutrition-and-fitness/fitness/
Last edited October 25, 2014
