Strength exercise is as important as aerobic exercise to keep health in good nick

Strength exercises bigstockphoto.com

 

glasbergen.com

We are living in a world of fast food and sedentary life, particularly, in urban jungle, not to speak of stressed and polluted environment. Take the case of cities like Delhi, Shanghai and  
Los Angeles.  Health, fitness awareness  in the last one decade has become a global phenomenon and emerged as an important   topic of discussion and debate.
There are many strength exercises such as Push ups, sit ups, etc.,   and we do not talk about them  as part of our efforts to keep our body fit. More often than not we emphasis due importance to aerobic exercises such as jogging, running, cycling, etc. A new research study done at  the University of Sydney (Australia) in November, 2017, has come up with a view, pointing out such strength exercises done along with aerobic exercises  could  improve  our physical well being and promote longevity. This conclusion was based on the study of 80000 plus adults by the above-mentioned institution.

glasbergen.com

This largest study compared the results of different types of body exercises and found out  that those, who  did strength-based exercises besides aerobic exercises, had a better  mortality rate -  a 23 percent reduction in risk of premature death by any means, and a 31 percent reduction in cancer-related death. The latter is a supplementary benefit.

glasbergen.com

 Assot. Prof. Emmanuel Stamatakis, School of Public Health and the Charles Perkins Center, the lead author said ''while  strength training has been given some attention for functional benefits as we age, little research has looked at its impact on mortality''. The study points out  strength exercise that promotes muscular strength may be  equally  important for health as aerobic activities. This type of combination positively will improve the life span and reduce the cancer related risks as well.  According to the lead  author "Assuming our findings reflect cause and effect relationships, it may be even more vital when it comes to reducing risk of death from cancer."

Aerobic dancing boothartworks.com

 It is imperative to know  about the World Health Organization's (WHO) Physical Activity Guidelines for adults. They recommend  150 minutes of aerobic activities, plus two days of muscle strengthening exercises  each week. The awareness among the communities in Australia is poor and the  government Public Health  authorities need to promote  strength-based guidelines in the community as the people are quite ignorant about them that have added advantages with respect to  good health.  The Australian National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey  done on  aerobic activity alone,  concluded  inactivity at 53 percent among Australian, according to the author. If the World Health Organization's (WHO) strength-based guidelines  are also taken into account, it presents a  poor  picture,  85 percent of Australians fail to meet recommendations. Only 19% of young Australians come under the WHO guidelines  the study points.

The study concludes that that we need to rethink and take a new direction, taking into account all kinds of exercise activities  to promote long-term health benefits. This study makes yet another clarification, saying that strength exercises  performed using ones own body weight without specific equipment  are equally effective as gym-based training. It will be foolish to think of  strength training by comparing with  weight lifting, etc. The advantage of strength   exercises at home is  it is cost effective and does not cost a dime/ paisa and you can do it at any time in the comforts of your home, whereas  at regulated  gyms the costs are prohibitive, in addition you have to find a gym that does not rip you off.

Published in the American Journal of Epidemiology today, the result is  based on a pooled population sample of over 80,306 adults, further corroborated  with data  gathered from the Health Survey for England and Scottish Health Survey, linked with the NHS Central Mortality Register. Other factors such as age, sex, health status, lifestyle behaviors and education level are not taken into account. Besides, this study does not include those people with a heart condition or any other disease such as cancer  because this may of skew  results due to per-existing health conditions.

So it is well and good if people will engage both in strength - related exercises as well as aerobic exercises for good health benefits and longevity;  reduction in cancer risk is an off-shoot of this combination of exercises.  It is to be borne in mind that adherence to WHO's strength-promoting exercise and aerobic guidelines  to reduce mortality risk due to cardiac condition (a 23 percent reduction in all-cause mortality) and cancer (a 31 percent reduction in cancer mortality) is to be given due priority.   However, there is no  evidence of an association between strength-promoting exercise and cardiovascular disease mortality

Story Source and Journal Ref:
 Emmanuel Stamatakis, I-Min Lee, Jason Bennie, Jonathan Freeston, Mark Hamer, Gary O'Donovan, Ding Ding, Adrian Bauman, Yorgi Mavros. Does strength promoting exercise confer unique health benefits? A pooled analysis of eleven population cohorts with all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular mortality endpoints. American Journal of Epidemiology, 2017; DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwx345
University of Sydney. "Strength exercise as vital as aerobic new research finds." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 1 November 2017. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171101102846.htm>.