For years, medical experts have been talking about the benefits and necessity of exercise to maintain a good health. A new research conducted in the US has found that the physiological age , which is how well you respond to exercise, might be a better predictor of life expectancy than the chronological actual age. The research has been carried out by researchers at the Cleveland Clinic and was a new large-scale study that looked at 126,356 patients with an average of 53.5 years who were referred to the clinic for the first exercise stress test. It is a common exam that diagnoses heart problems.
During the test, the patients were made to walk on the treadmill, which gets more difficult throughout the exam and have their exercise capacity heart rate response to exercise and heart rate recovery measured. The researchers then developed a formula that calculates how well people respond to exercise their physiological age with the help of this data which is known as the A-Best (Age Based on Exercise Stress Testing). Even the gender and any medications that affect the heart rate are taken in to consideration.
The findings were published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, that showed that after a follow up of 8.7 years the A-Best was a better predictor of mortality than the chronological age, even after taking in to account the other factors like smoking, sex, body mass index, statin use, diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease and end-age kidney disease. Dr.Serge Harb, the study author said, “Age is one of the most reliable risk factors for death: The older you are, the greater your risk of dying. But we found that physiological health is an even better predictor. If you want to live longer then exercise more. It should improve your health and your length of life.”
Dr. Harb has added that A-Best could also be used by the doctors while giving patients the results of workout testing.
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