The health benefits of regular exercise
There is overwhelming scientific evidence that people who lead active lifestyles are less likely to suffer from illness and more likely to live longer. Exercise not only makes you physically fitter, it also improves your mental health and general sense of wellbeing. Some of the health benefits of exercise are described here.
* Exercise can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke. Diseases affecting the heart and blood vessels (cardiovascular disease), including heart disease and stroke, are the biggest cause of illness and death in the UK. Inactive people have almost double the risk of dying from heart disease compared with people who are active. So if you don't do any exercise at all, even doing a little more physical activity - for example, walking each day - can help reduce your risk of heart disease.
* Doing exercise can also help to reduce high blood pressure (hypertension). You are more likely to have a stroke or heart attack if you have high blood pressure. High blood pressure is common - about half of all people aged between 65 and 74 have it - but it has no symptoms. Exercise can help to prevent high blood pressure, and reduce it if yours is already too high.
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