Over 40? Just 20 minutes of daily exercise can keep you out of the hospital

Medical Xpress / HealthDay / JAMA Network Open ^ | Feb. 20, 2023 | Lori Solomon / Eleanor L. Watts et al

[ConservativeMind]

If you're over 40, regular exercise may not only keep you fit—it might keep you out of the hospital, too, a large new study suggests.

Researchers found that among nearly 82,000 British adults, those who regularly exercised were less likely to be hospitalized for various health conditions in the coming years. The list included such common ills as pneumonia, stroke, diabetes complications and severe urinary tract infections.

The findings suggest that if middle-aged and older people added just 20 minutes of exercise to their daily routine, they could cut the risk of those hospitalizations by anywhere from 4% to 23% over seven years.

Researchers focused on nearly 82,000 participants between the ages of 42 and 78 who spent a week wearing wrist monitors that recorded their physical activity. They looked at the relationship between those activity levels and participants' odds of being hospitalized in the coming years.

After roughly seven years, more than 48,000 study participants did end up in the hospital, for a host of reasons. When it came to nine of those health issues, though, people who were more physically active had lower risks.

The big nine were gallbladder disease, UTIs, blood clots, stroke, diabetes complications, pneumonia, iron-deficiency anemia, colon polyps and diverticular disease (where small "pouches" form in the wall of the colon).

The researchers estimate that it takes only an extra 20 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous cardio each day to curb the odds of being hospitalized for the nine conditions the study identified. That ranged from a 4% dip in the risk of hospitalization for colon polyps to a 23% drop in the chances of landing in the hospital due to diabetes.

[redfreedom]

Is the goal to stay out of the hospital or out of the funeral parlor? Big difference.

My lifestyle is modeled after neighbors and my dad that lived to be in their late 80’s to mid 90’s. All of them had a daily routine that involved physical labor that included much lifting, much walking, machine running etc. That included splitting wood by hand, walking through brush filled woods mending fences, shoveling snow, walking behind a garden tiller, or mower, wood or mechanical shop projects. Anything physical that keeps a person away from the computer or TV.

Now this does not keep one out of the hospital, for joints need replacing, which should be done early. My knee doctor said they stop doing this at 80. The sooner it gets done in life the higher quality of life a person has.

My brother retired with a TV remote in one hand and six pack of beer in the other and died young.

[Songcraft]

"How many cigarettes/cups of coffee equal 20 minutes of exercise?"


If you have one in each hand, and alternate them, that cuts the time in half.


 

[Songcraft]

"I’m sure they meant 2 minutes. Who would exercise for a whole 20 minutes?"


Just do the two-minute workout ten times a day.   (Every time you hear the church bells ringing on the hour, jump up and do the two-minute tippy-toes exercise.)

[Verginius Rufus]

Diets can affect people in other ways. Martin Luther broke with the Catholic Church when the Holy Roman Emperor put him on a diet of worms.

[joshua c]

work makes me go off corporate property to smoke

so thats how i get my exercise

its quite a hike

[dfwgator]

work makes me go off corporate property to smoke

so thats how i get my exercise

its quite a hike

“It’s too Soviet!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0QgBavxCjQ

[KittyKares]

It really is important, but I have a hard time making myself do it. I admire people who have the self discipline to do it.

[Parley Baer]

I try to get in around 10,000 steps a day. I an 79 and so far so good.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Just 20 minutes of daily exercise can keep you out of the hospital, unless of course you have been vaxxed.

[Recompennation]

Back that 40 up and make that gainful enjoyed exertion ie. a job. May help alleviate a nation of paid loafers,,,, too.
Way too many fat people everywhere, just my observation.

[kelly4c]

Doesn’t count if it’s broken up?

[wjcsux]

“I’m 79...Thye shoulder impingement finally got me. I start therapy Monday.”
You beat me by about 15 years! I’m no stranger to physical therapy. Keep up with it and do what they tell you and you will stay away from the guys with the long knives.

[ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton]

I am 66 and when I was younger had multiple knee surgeries and have always had trouble kneeling and skiing. Sitting on the lifts when it is cold and with heavy equipment on always killed me. Also driving in a car for more than a couple of hours my knees would be stiff.

I started doing knees-over-toes guys’ stuff. He has weird things like walking backward on a treadmill and strange ‘Keep On Trucking” (poster in the 70’s) like steps. I gotta tell you I can go full down into a squat with no problems and I went skiing hard with just a 1/2 hour lunch on all expert runs yesterday and I didn’t hear a peep from my knees.

So there is something to this exercise stuff.