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Midlife exercise can boost heart health

New study demonstrates that regular moderate exercising lowers the risk of heart diseases in middle-aged people.

According to the article published in the Circulation, people who were engaged in the recommended 2.5 hours of exercise a week had lower levels of inflammatory markers in their blood.

Inflammatory markers are important because their high levels have been linked to increased heart risk, experts say.

Researchers believe exercising should not be limited to hard toil in a gym, suggesting that activities such as gardening, brisk walking and many other similar activities may have similar effects.

Conducted by Professor Andrew Steptoe and Dr Mark Hamer from UCL Epidemiology and Public Health, the study of over 4,000 people showed that even those who start exercising in their late 40s and 50s can benefit from the advantages.

The results confirmed that people who had consistently performed the recommended amount of exercise for the entire 10-year study period had the lowest inflammatory levels overall.

Lower levels of inflammatory markers were also seen in those who had started doing the recommended amount of exercise in their 40s. The result is considerable particularly when compared with people who had never performed enough exercise.

"We should be encouraging more people to get active for example walking instead of taking the bus. You can gain health benefits from moderate activity at any time in your life," said Dr Hamer who led the research.

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