BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - Doctors at a Birmingham hospital have concluded that lifelong exercise provides a very significant protection against stroke. People who had been involved in vigorous exercise (running, swimming, cycling, playing tennis or squash) between the ages of 15 and 40 were found to have a five times lower risk of suffering a stroke than had people who had never done any vigorous exercise. The study involved 125 patients (men and women) who had been diagnosed as having suffered a stroke and 198 controls. The subjects were aged 35 to 74 with a median age of 66 for the stroke victims and 63 for the controls. Being engaged in vigorous exercise between the ages of 15 and 25 was found to be particularly beneficial but even people who started exercising in their forties or early fifties derived significant benefit. Interestingly enough, people who had just recently taken up walking for exercise were also found to be significantly (3 times) less likely to suffer from a stroke than were sedentary people.

Source - British Medical Journal, Vol. 307, July 24, 1993, pp. 231-34