(Amy Norton/ HealthDay) — It’s well-known that regular exercise can help cut your risk for a stroke. Now, new research shows fitness may have an added bonus, cutting the severity of a stroke should one occur.
So finds a study of more than 900 stroke survivors. It found that fitter people were twice as likely as sedentary folk to have a mild stroke rather than a severe one.
And there was no sign that intense workouts were necessary. The benefit was seen among older adults who walked for an average of 35 minutes a day.
“Stay physically active. Keep on walking,” advised senior researcher Dr. Katharina Sunnerhagen.
The findings do not prove that exercise, itself, was responsible, said Sunnerhagen, a professor at the University of Gothenburg, in Sweden. But she said it’s clear that regular activity has a range of health benefits — and less severe strokes may be one of them. (…)