A study has found that exercise can be as good a medicine as
pills for people with conditions such as heart disease.
British Medical
Journal or BMJ’s work looked at hundreds of trials linking almost 340,000
patients to assess the merits of exercise and drugs in avoiding death. Physical
activity challenged some heart drugs and proved that it is better than stroke
medicine. According to the researchers, the findings suggest exercise should be
added to prescriptions.
Experts emphasized that patients should not ditch their
drugs for exercise – but, they should use both in tandem. Lesser and lesser
adults at present get enough exercise.
No more than a third of people in England do the suggested at least 2.5
hours or more of moderate-intensity activity, like cycling or fast walking,
every week.
In contrary, while that is happening, prescription drug
rates continue to rise. In 2010, there were averages of 17.7 prescriptions for
every person in England while 11.2 in 2000.
For the study, scientists based at the London School of
Economics, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute at Harvard Medical School and
Stanford University School of Medicine trawled medical literature to find any
research that compared exercise with pills as a therapy. They recognized 305
trials to incorporate in their analysis.
Such trials looked at managing conditions like existing heart disease,
stroke rehabilitation, heart failure and pre-diabetes. They found exercise and
drugs were comparable in terms of death rates when they studied the data as a
total.
Although there were two exceptions, drugs called diuretics
were the clear winner for heart failure patients, while exercise was best for
stroke patients in terms of life expectancy. Amy Thompson, senior cardiac nurse
at the British Heart Foundation, said that although an active lifestyle brings
many health benefits, there is not enough evidence to draw any firm conclusions
about the merit of exercise above and beyond drugs.
“Medicines are an extremely important part of the treatment of many
heart conditions and people on prescribed drugs should keep taking their vital
meds. If you have a heart condition or have been told you’re at high risk of
heart disease, talk to your doctor about the role that exercise can play in
your treatment.”
Dr Peter Coleman of the Stroke Association said exercise
alongside drugs had a vital role that merited more research. “We would like to
see more research into the long-term benefits of exercise for stroke patients. “By
taking important steps, such as regular exercise, eating a balanced diet and
stopping smoking, people can significantly reduce their risk of stroke.” “Moderate
physical activity, for example, can reduce the risk of stroke by up to 27%.
