It's Never Too Late to Get Healthy
Risk of heart disease can drop dramatically, even after middle age
 (HealthDay News) -- Most people know someone who thinks it's too late to stop smoking or start exercising or eat right. At their age, they say, the changes won't do any good.
Research has proved them wrong.
Adopting a heart-healthy lifestyle -- even in middle age -- makes a difference, according to researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina. They found that people who eat right and exercise can cut their risk for cardiovascular disease, even if they're in their 50s or 60s.
Eating at least five fruits and vegetables every day, exercising at least 2#189; hours a week, maintaining a healthy weight and not smoking reduce the chances of heart trouble by 35 percent and the risk of dying by 40 percent, compared with people who don't make such changes, the study found.
"We call this the turning-back-the-clock study," Dr. Dana E. King, the lead researcher, told HealthDay . "We want to emphasize that it's not too late change, and the benefits of a healthy lifestyle don't accrue only to people who have been doing this all along, but you can make changes in your 50s and 60s and have a healthier, longer life because of it."
King said his team wanted to test whether it's too late, once a person reaches middle age, to improve health by adopting healthy habits.
"We found that it's not too late," he said. "The benefits were dramatic and immediate, even at age 65."
"Some people in middle age don't change, because they think the damage is done," King said. "In fact, in this study, the chances of dying or having a heart attack were reduced by a third after just four years of living a healthy lifestyle."
For the study, King's team collected data on 15,792 men and women age 45 to 64 who took part in a larger study on atherosclerosis. They discovered that the benefit of switching to a healthy lifestyle after age 45 became apparent within four years. In addition, people experienced benefits even with modest changes in health habits.
The study shows that it may never be too late to start over, said Dr. David Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine.
"Healthy living is the most powerful medicine of all," Katz told HealthDay . "It requires no prescription, and all of the side effects are beneficial, too. It can, admittedly, be tough at times to get there from here, but it's well worth it -- and anytime is a good time to start."
On the Web
For more information on healthy living, visit the American Heart Association.
SOURCES:
HealthDay News ; Dana E. King, M.D., Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, S.C.; David Katz, M.D., M.P.H., director, Prevention Research Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; July 2007, American Journal of Medicine
Author:
Anne Thompson
Publication Date:
June 30, 2008
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