Taking up running can make your heart four years younger, study says
TAKING up running can make your heart four years younger, a study suggests.
Six months of training for a marathon can significantly reduce blood vessel stiffness and blood pressure, scans showed.
Older, slower runners among the 138 participants — half of whom were men — saw the most benefit.
Experts from University College London and Barts Health NHS Trust assessed blood vessel stiffness, a normal part of getting old, and found “vascular age” — a key measure of heart health — fell by four years.
The runners’ blood pressure also dropped.
Dr Charlotte Manisty said the benefits were clear for all the participants, whose average age was 37.
She said the study showed the importance of lifestyle changes to slowing age- related health risks and it was “never too late — as evidenced by our older, slower runners”.
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Professor Metin Avkiran, of the British Heart Foundation, said: “Keeping active reduces your risk of having a heart attack or stroke and cuts your chances of an early death.
“You don’t need to train for a marathon to reap the benefits. More is usually better, but every bit counts.”
The study is in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
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