Walking 'cuts risk of stroke in men'

 
Pa14 November 2013

Older men can walk away their risk of stroke and take it easy at the same time, research suggests.

Scientists found that walking at least one to two hours a day was associated with reduced stroke risk.

But strenuous "power walks" were not required. Length of time spent walking had a bigger impact than the speed of walking.

Findings from the study of 3,435 healthy men aged 60 to 80 appear in the American Heart Association journal Stroke.

Participants were questioned about the distance they walked each week and their usual walking pace.

The research showed that men who walked for eight to 14 hours each week were a third less likely to suffer a stroke than those who spent no more than three hours walking.

For men walking more than 22 hours a week, the risk was two thirds lower.

"If you took 1,000 men who usually walk 8-14 hours per week and followed them for 10 years, on average they would have 55 strokes, compared with 80 for the group who only walk zero to three hours per week," said lead researcher Dr Barbara Jefferis, from University College London. "The total time spent walking was more consistently protective against stroke than walking pace; overall it seemed that accumulating more time walking was most beneficial.

"Our findings suggest that regular walking each week could be an important part of stroke prevention strategies in older people."

Each year in the UK around 152,000 people suffer strokes, which can be fatal or disabling.

Dr Shannon Amoils, from the British Heart Foundation, which part-funded the study, said: "Whatever your age it's important to stay active every day. This research suggests a daily walk could help to reduce stroke risk and is further evidence that regular exercise - even a daily stroll in the park - can be an effective way to keep healthy."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in