According to some new research, low intensity activities such as daily household chores can really reduce the risk of suffering a stroke.
In other words, things like mopping, vacuuming or walking and playing catch with your pet dog may just be enough daily movement to help you avoid a stroke as per a study from San Diego State University.
The CDC states that 1 in 6 deaths in the United States is caused by cardiovascular disease so it’s safe to say that strokes can be really serious.
So what can you do to significantly reduce your risk of stroke?
As mentioned before, it turns out that the answer is rather simple – try to avoid sitting in one place for too long.
Unfortunately, most people are stuck in traffic and in their offices for many hours every day which is extremely detrimental to one’s health.
The danger of prolonged inactivity is well known – it can cause Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, depression and other chronic illnesses.
To combat the negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle, doctors recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per week.
But new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA Network Open, has learned that even just lighter intensity movement such as household chores can significantly reduce your risk of experiencing a stroke.
The dean of SDSU’s College of Health and Human Services and the leader of the research explained that “Light-intensity physical activity can include vacuuming, sweeping the floor, washing the car, leisure strolling, stretching, or playing catch. We observed that both physical activity and being sedentary independently impacted stroke risk. Our research demonstrates that strategies for stroke prevention should focus on both.”
The study featured 7,600 adults aged 45 and older, the team measuring the amount of time they were sedentary as well as the intensity and duration of their physical activity.
The initial data was compared to the incidence of strokes over a 7 year long period.
What they were able to conclude was that those who were sedentary for at least 13 hours every day had increased their risk of having a stroke by 44 percent.
Hooker explained that “The findings are more potent because the activity and sedentary behaviors were measured with an accelerometer, providing substantially more accurate data than previous studies that relied on self-reported measures.”
“For overall heart and brain health, move more within your capacity, and sit less,” he added.
