New data suggests that exercise may help
smokers quit and remain smoke-free. Moreover, exercise helps both smokers and
non-smokers live longer.
Exercise
may help smokers quit and remain smoke-free, according to new data presented
last week at the World Congress of Cardiology. Moreover, exercise helps both
smokers and non-smokers live longer.
The
study, conducted between 1996 and 2008 in Taiwan, looked at 434,190 people who
went through medical examination at a private fee-paying company. The data
revealed that active smokers (30 minutes of exercise a day) were 55 percent
more likely to quit smoking than those who were inactive.
Furthermore,
active smokers were 43 percent less likely to relapse than smokers who were
inactive.
Physical
activity also increased life expectancy, even among smokers. Smokers who
exercised lived 3.7 years longer and had a reduced all-cause mortality of 23 percent
– equivalent to ex-smokers who exercised for 15 minutes a day.
For
ex-smokers, the results were even more promising. Ex-smokers who exercised
lived 5.6 years longer and had a reduced all-cause mortality by 43 percent –
equivalent to non-smokers who did not exercise.
“Exercise
can help smokers to quit and quitting smoking has been shown to significantly
reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and that must be the goal
of all smokers,” said Dr. C.P. Wen, National Health Research Institute, Taiwan.
“If
smokers can continue to exercise, not only they can increase the quit rate, but
also they can reduce their mortality for all-cause and for cardiovascular
diseases in the long run,” he added.
According
to the World Heart Federation, smokers are almost twice as likely to have a
heart attack as people who have never smoked. Moreover, second-hand smoke
exposure is responsible for 600,000 deaths every year.
Within
five years of stopping smoking, a person’s risk of having heart attack is
halved and within 15 years is reduced to that of a non-smoker.
AsianScientist
Source: World Heart Federation
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