['Survival of the fittest': effect of regular physical exercise on health and life expectancy].
According to the 'Australian burden of disease study', physical inactivity appears to be a leading risk factor in the population at large, accounting for no less than 6.7% of the total loss of disability-adjusted life years. In women it is even the most important risk factor. Regular physical mobility and exercise can reduce this negative influence. The effects are: improvement of cardiovascular fitness, prevention of coronary events, and the reduction of excess mortality. The mortality risk may be reduced by 47% by physical activity, depending on the energy expenditure. Especially the studies of the last two years have so convincingly proven a robust effect of daily physical exercise that on this point permissiveness is no longer acceptable in the advice to the population at large.
Academinish Ziekenhuis, afd. Interne Geneeskunde, Maastricht.
W H
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Birkenhäger
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de Leeuw
D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D002423:Cause of Death; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D010809:Physical Fitness; D011322:Primary Prevention; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors