Exercise lowers risk of irregular heartbeat for older women

August 26, 2014

US researchers observed post-menopausal women enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), a 15-year study that began in 1991, and concluded that exercise decreased chances of developing atrial fibrillation (AF) by ten percent.

“We found the more physically active the women were, the less likely it was that they would develop atrial fibrillation,” says Marco V. Perez, M.D., lead study author and director of the Inherited Arrhythmia Clinic at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California.

The findings held true even for obese women, and obesity is known to be a major risk factor for AF.

“Also, the more obese the women were, the more they benefited from having greater degrees of physical activity,” says Dr. Perez.

The study began 11 years ago when 81,000 post-menopausal women ages 50-79 answered questions from the research team about their physical activity and how likely they were to sweat on a given day.

Physical activity was classified on a MET scale, which measures how much energy is expended during exercise.

For example, nine MET hours per week is estimated by researchers to be the equivalent of walking briskly for 30 minutes six days per week or bicycling leisurely for one hour, twice per week.

The most physically active in the sample, whose risk of AF was reduced by 10 percent, were those who logged more than nine MET hours per week.

Those whose physical activity was considered moderate logged less than three MET hours per week — the equivalent of a brisk 30 minute walk twice per week — and had a six percent reduction in their risk of developing AF.

Strenuous physical activity did not further reduce the risk for AF, but it did not increase it, either, as previous research had indicated, and Dr. Perez believes there is no cause for concern.

Source: Free Malaysia Today
Published: 24 Aug 2014