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More exercise means less silent strokes

By jeremyc | September 26, 2011

It is a known fact that people who spend more time in the gym, or in other words work out more pose lower risks of neurological disorder. A new study suggests that older adults who regularly break a sweat might be less likely to have a “silent stroke” than non-exercisers. Strokes are often responsible for brain damage by blocking the supply of blood to the brain. Such major strokes can easily be identified by its basic symptoms such as weakness on one side of the body and fumbling while speaking. But the silent strokes are even more deadly as because they come without any warning! Subtle memory and mobility problems are some of the common symptoms of silent strokes. Also, an increased risk of future strokes is also an indication that a person may have the silent again in his/her lifetime.

A research conducted by the Columbia University and the University of Miami which started in the year 1993 involved 1238 participants which focused on the risk factors for vascular disease. All the participants in this study were 55 years and above old. None of them had any symptoms of stroke at their level of physical activity. The study revealed that 43% weren’t regularly active, 36% did light exercise such as walking or golfing and 21% engaged in moderate to heavy exercise such as jogging, biking and swimming.

Several years later, when the respondents were 70 years old on an average, they were put to MRI scans. It was found that the forty-three percent of participants had no regular exercise; 36% engaged in regular light exercise, such as golf, walking, bowling or dancing; and 21% engaged in regular moderate to intense exercise, such as hiking, tennis, swimming, biking, jogging or racquetball. There was no difference between those who engaged in light exercise and those who did not exercise. Among the participants, 16 percent had experienced a silent stroke, known as silent brain infarcts.

Study author Dr. Joshua Wiley of the Columbia University says –

“It is important to note that light-intensity physical activity is likely to have protective effects against multiple other conditions associated with aging and our findings should not discourage individuals from performing even light intensity activities.”

According to the American Heart Association, ideal cardiovascular health includes 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise a week. Many other experts believe that the study did not address the fact that why more strenuous exercise appears to be helpful. Dr. Joshua Willey says that some of the effects of exercise appear to be related to improving other health conditions that affect the risk of stroke, such as hypertension, obesity, high cholesterol and low HDL, diabetes, atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and heart disease.

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