HOW TO BE HEALTHY 50 + AT EXERCISING WITH SERIOUS HEALTH CONDITIONS
Being active can actually help to protect you from fur ther risk...
QMy husband has recently been diagnosed with heart disease and he also has emphysema and severe arthritis. The doctors keep telling me he needs to exercise but he is really frail and I am frightened he will have another heart attack or will fall over and break his hip. I want to protect him, not make it worse, isn’t exercise too risky for him?
AI know it feels scar y and we all want to protect our loved ones, especially when they have been unwell, but exercise has huge benefits for both you and your husband! About a
WITH FAMILY DOCTOR
PHILIPPA KAYE
quar ter of the population are inactive (taking less than 30mins per week of exercise) and those with long term health conditions, such as your husband, are twice as likely to be inactive. About a third to a half of the population have a long term health condition with ¼ having multiple conditions.
However, being active decreases your risk of osteoar thritis, Alzheimers, depression, hear t disease, stroke, colon cancer, breast cancer, high blood pressure and many, many more! Also, exercise actually decreases your likelihood of falling (with all the risks that falling has) and helps keep you functioning, and therefore keeping you independent and doing the things you want to do. The absolute risk of sudden cardiac death associated with moderate intensity exercise is actually small – 1 case per 36.5 million hours of exer tion. As such, you are more likely to help his hear t by encouraging him to move than cause a problem.
Exercise works because it decreases visceral fat. Visceral fat is the fat around your organs which leads to systemic inflammation, which is thought to be related to multiple diseases. Exercise decreases this fat, as well as increasing muscle mass, which in turn produces anti inflammator y substances. So moving is good for your health!