London - If you want to stay young, don’t wait for a wonder drug – just go for a walk instead.
A half-hour walk every day is as good as a “super-pill” capable of combating age-related illness from diabetes to dementia, Britain’s biggest science conference heard. It also fights obesity, arthritis and cancer and helps lift depression.
Dr James Brown, an expert in ageing, said that while 30 minutes’ brisk walking a day might not seem like much, studies from around the world showed it benefited all-round health.
Dr Brown, a lecturer in health sciences at Birmingham’s Aston University, said: “All of these changes are not seen in people that run marathons, they are not seen in people who lift weights in the gym or spend four hours running on the treadmill, these are seen in people who walk, and who walk for half an hour a day.
“You can get all these health benefits, you can get a reduction in all of these diseases that are associated with ageing, by just keeping active.”
Dr Brown, an honorary research fellow at the Heart of England NHS Trust in Birmingham, told the British Science Festival that maintaining muscle as we age was key to staying mobile and living an independent life.
Delivering a round-up of existing research, he said: “Maintaining your muscle mass, maintaining your activity level, is really important.
“But there is no need to worry because it has all been sorted. There is a magic new super-pill. This super-pill will prevent obesity. It will also reduce deposits of bad fat. It prevents diabetes.
“It reduces risk of cardiovascular disease – heart attacks, strokes. This pill reduces the risk of, or delays, Alzheimer’s disease. So if you give this pill to people with early stage Alzheimer’s disease, 50 percent of the people who take this pill will have a reduced progression of the disease. It reduces the risk of some cancers, particularly cancer of the gut. It can increase mobility.”
He said regular walks could even treat depression.
Dr Brown said that 30 percent of people with depression who took up walking for half an hour a day found their symptoms were improved. If the amount of time patients spent walking was increased, the number who noticed improvement reached nearly 50 percent.
He added: “It reduces anxiety in about 50 percent of people and can improve levels of cognition. It can improve your ability to think and reason. It reduces arthritic pain in about 50 percent of sufferers and can reduce hospital admissions in older women for hip fractures by 40 percent. It gives you more energy and reduces fatigue levels and if you tie all these things up together into one real subject area, it’s quality of life.
“If you give somebody a quality of life questionnaire before they take this pill and give them the questionnaire three or six months later, their quality of life will have improved. We also see a 23 percent lower risk of death.
“This isn’t a pill, it’s exercise.”
Dr Brown, who is the clinical and community engagement lead at the Aston Research Centre for Healthy Ageing, said muscle tissue released a hormone that regulated the ageing process. The more active you stay as you get older, the more likely it is your body will age well.
It was never too early to start, he said, adding: “We’re all very different. The key thing is to do as much as you can. The message I’m trying to get across is it’s as simple as movement. It’s all about getting your heart beating slightly faster, burning up glucose.” – Daily Mail