A good article from Reuters ( especially useful for all aged people.):
From Reuters Health Information :
Swimming Lowers Older Adults' Blood Pressure - By Amy Norton
Many older adults like to take a dip a pool, and now a small study suggests it can be good for their blood pressure.
Researchers found that among 43 older men and women, those who started swimming a few times a week lowered their systolic blood pressure - on average, from 131 mmHg at baseline to 122 mm Hg three months later.
Swimming is often promoted as a good way for older people to exercise, since it's easy on the joints and it's not likely to cause overheating. And many follow that advice: after walking, swimming is the second-most popular form of exercise among the older set.
But there's been little research into the health benefits of swimming -- though a number of studies have suggested that it's as safe for older adults as walking and bicycling, said Hirofumi Tanaka, senior researcher on the new study.
Published online January 16 in the American Journal of Cardiology, the research appears to be the first to demonstrate that swimming can improve older adults' vascular function and lower their blood pressure.
"Swimming is a very attractive form of exercise," Tanaka, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, told Reuters Health in an email. "It's easily accessible and inexpensive. And because it does not involve bearing of body weight, due to the buoyancy of water, it is friendly to knee and ankle joints."
The average age in the study was 60 years. Everyone had hypertension or pre-hypertension but was otherwise healthy.
The researchers randomly assigned subjects to either have supervised swimming sessions or learn relaxation exercises. Over 12 weeks, the swimmers got in the pool three or four times a week, gradually working their way up to 45 minutes of swimming at a time.
By the end of the study, the swimmers had shaved an average of nine points from their systolic blood pressure. In contrast, that number did not budge in the relaxation group.
The picture was similar when the researchers had the study participants wear portable blood pressure monitors. On average, the swimming group had a 24-hour systolic blood pressure of 119 mm Hg -- down from 128 mm Hg at the study's start.
Tanaka's team also used ultrasonography to assess vascular dilation in response to blood flow. Again, they found improvements in the swimming group, but not in the relaxation group.
The study was small, and it's not clear whether the blood pressure reduction lasts -- or whether it translates into a lower risk of heart attack or stroke down the line. But the results confirm what experts already recommend for older adults' heart health: get regular moderate exercise, along with a healthy diet.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/xtT6VI
Am J Cardiol 2012.
Reuters Health Information © 2012
From Reuters Health Information :
Swimming Lowers Older Adults' Blood Pressure - By Amy Norton
Many older adults like to take a dip a pool, and now a small study suggests it can be good for their blood pressure.
Researchers found that among 43 older men and women, those who started swimming a few times a week lowered their systolic blood pressure - on average, from 131 mmHg at baseline to 122 mm Hg three months later.
Swimming is often promoted as a good way for older people to exercise, since it's easy on the joints and it's not likely to cause overheating. And many follow that advice: after walking, swimming is the second-most popular form of exercise among the older set.
But there's been little research into the health benefits of swimming -- though a number of studies have suggested that it's as safe for older adults as walking and bicycling, said Hirofumi Tanaka, senior researcher on the new study.
Published online January 16 in the American Journal of Cardiology, the research appears to be the first to demonstrate that swimming can improve older adults' vascular function and lower their blood pressure.
"Swimming is a very attractive form of exercise," Tanaka, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, told Reuters Health in an email. "It's easily accessible and inexpensive. And because it does not involve bearing of body weight, due to the buoyancy of water, it is friendly to knee and ankle joints."
The average age in the study was 60 years. Everyone had hypertension or pre-hypertension but was otherwise healthy.
The researchers randomly assigned subjects to either have supervised swimming sessions or learn relaxation exercises. Over 12 weeks, the swimmers got in the pool three or four times a week, gradually working their way up to 45 minutes of swimming at a time.
By the end of the study, the swimmers had shaved an average of nine points from their systolic blood pressure. In contrast, that number did not budge in the relaxation group.
The picture was similar when the researchers had the study participants wear portable blood pressure monitors. On average, the swimming group had a 24-hour systolic blood pressure of 119 mm Hg -- down from 128 mm Hg at the study's start.
Tanaka's team also used ultrasonography to assess vascular dilation in response to blood flow. Again, they found improvements in the swimming group, but not in the relaxation group.
The study was small, and it's not clear whether the blood pressure reduction lasts -- or whether it translates into a lower risk of heart attack or stroke down the line. But the results confirm what experts already recommend for older adults' heart health: get regular moderate exercise, along with a healthy diet.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/xtT6VI
Am J Cardiol 2012.
Reuters Health Information © 2012
Comments