August 14, 2014 – Other Than Running

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Anchor lead: If even a very little bit ofrunning won’t work for you, there are other options, Elizabeth Tracey reports

A mere five to ten minutes of running most days each week can significantly reduce your mortality risk, a recent study concluded.  But what if you really loath running?  Michael Blaha, a preventive cardiology expert at Johns Hopkins, says the range of options is vast.

Blaha: We all should exercise in some way.  So if someone can’t run whether they have knee problems or they just don’t like running, you can get a lot of the health benefits just from walking, but it takes a lot more walking. For example, let’s say maybe you run 10 minutes then maybe you need to walk 30 minutes to get the equivalent benefit, but walking is good, too.  But if even walking was difficult, then for example pool exercises are fantastic.  Swimming exercises most of the muscle groups in the body and it can be very safe from an injury point of view.   :27

Blaha says that for virtually everyone, the benefits of exercise in reducing cardiovascular disease risk are well known.  He urges people to think of exercise as prevention and stresses that some form of exercise fits all.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.