Seniors Can Reduce Heart Disease Risk with Daily Exercise

Trying to reduce heart disease risk when you’re in your early adulthood doesn’t seem like much of a priority. Obviously, nobody wants to have some sort of cardiac incident later in life, but when you’re younger, you feel like you have time.  According to new research I’ve just finished reading, that’s not quite the case.

Starting Early to Reduce Heart Disease Risk

New research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association showed that people who are active on a daily basis earlier in their lives have a reduced heart disease risk later on.  Moreover, this was a particularly notable trend among women. Still, it was important for both men and women, according to the researchers.

It showed that people who did over 20 minutes of physical exercise per day were less likely to suffer a heart condition or death related to a heart condition.  The outcomes were most noticeable in people aged 70 years and older.

Physical Activity is Vital at Any Age

According to the study’s lead researcher, Claudio Barbiellini Amidei, MD, from Italy’s University of Padua, physical activity has its benefits no matter what a person’s age may be. However, when it comes to the specific findings of the study, it shows that the sooner you start, the better the impact on being able to reduce heart disease risk.

What this means isn’t that we missed our chance if we didn’t start exercising while we were in our twenties.  While it’s definitely a good idea to start then if that’s how old you are today, I interpret the strategy differently than that.

Instead, I feel that the research showed that the best time to start exercising is today, no matter how old you are. If you haven’t been as physically active as you should, then today is the day to start improving those habits. This is the case regardless of whether you’re 25 or 95.  Start right where you are and get moving in a way that is appropriate to your fitness level and body.

A Big Year to Reduce Heart Disease Risk

I’m going to knock on wood while I say this (a friend of mine essentially requires me to say that before making any pronouncements about the future!), but it feels as though we’re coming to the end of the worst of the pandemic. My hope is that this feeling is right.  Now, it’s time for us to use the advantages of an opened-up world to our best opportunity. This, combined with beautiful spring weather and the end of winter means lots of great things are ahead.

For me, that means that I’m going to continue to work on my health. I am fortunate enough to have already lost the pandemic pounds. Now, I’m focused on keeping up my healthy lifestyle including reasonable nutrition, regular exercise, stress management, better sleep, skin care, and even reading and doing exercises for my mental and cognitive health. These factors help to reduce heart disease risk but also aim to keep me well overall to boost my enjoyment of every day. If that’s not the ideal goal for senior life, I can’t think of what else is.