NEW YORK (AP) — Being merely moderately fit — for instance by walking briskly half an hour a day — can lower the risk of having a stroke, according to a new study whose findings apply to women as well as men.
Much of the previous research on stroke and fitness has been on men and has relied on participants to report their physical activity, said Steven Hooker, who heads the University of South Carolina’s Prevention Research Center in Columbia and led the study.
About a quarter of those in the new study were women, and everyone had a treadmill test to measure his or her fitness level.
“It seems that benefits we’ve been observing in men for many years... are also observed in women,” Hooker said.
He said even those who were moderately fit had a lower risk of stroke. Most people can reach that fitness range by walking briskly for 30 minutes a day, five times a week, said Hooker, who presented the findings Thursday at the International Stroke Conference in New Orleans.
Stroke is the nation’s third-leading cause of death. It occurs when blood flow to the brain is stopped when a blood vessel is blocked by a clot or bursts.
Hooker said physical activity can help prevent blood clots and the buildup of artery-clogging plaque.