UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., April 21 (UPI) -- Older people who engage in strength training, in addition to other forms of physical activity, significantly lowered their risk of death, according to a new study.
Researchers at Penn State University found people over age 65 who did strength training twice a week cut their risk of death nearly in half, while also reducing the chances they'd die of heart problems or cancer.
Physical activity and exercise have long been known to benefit health, in terms of disease and cognitive decline. The benefits of strength training have not be stressed for nearly as long, though, researchers said, noting the American Heart Association did not start officially recommending the activity until 2007.
"This doesn't mean that strength training wasn't a part of what people had been doing for a long time as exercise, but it wasn't until recently that it was solidified in this way as a recommendation," Dr. Jennifer Kraschnewski, an assistant professor of medicine and public health sciences at the Penn State College of Medicine, said in a press release, adding the number of people who engaged in strength training was "only a small fraction of the population, but it's actually higher than we had anticipated."
For the study, published in the journal Preventive Medicine, researchers analyzed data on 30,162 adults above age 65 collected as part of the National Health Interview Survey between 1997 and 2001.
During the study period, 9.6 percent of participants engaged in strength training and 31.6 percent died. Those who did strength training at least twice per week had a 46 percent lower chance of dying from anything, the researchers report. People who did strength training also were 41 percent less likely to die from a heart-related issue and 19 percent less likely to die from cancer.
On average, participants closer to age 65 were more likely to do strength training, and were more likely to be married, white, have normal body weight, be otherwise physically active and have some type of post-secondary education.
"We need to identify more ways that we can help get people engaged in strength training so we can increase the number from just under 10 percent to a much higher percentage of our older adults who are engaged in these activities," Kraschnewski said.
