{"id":140930,"date":"2018-06-14T02:51:12","date_gmt":"2018-06-14T02:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/unfit-in-middle-age-are-you-doomed\/"},"modified":"2018-06-14T02:51:12","modified_gmt":"2018-06-14T02:51:12","slug":"unfit-in-middle-age-are-you-doomed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/unfit-in-middle-age-are-you-doomed\/","title":{"rendered":"Unfit in middle age: Are you doomed?"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure>                                  <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Middle-aged man with a tape measure\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/320\/cpsprodpb\/10068\/production\/_102004656_gettyimages-656948448.jpg\"\/>Image copyright                  Getty Images                                                    <\/figure>\n<p class=\"caps\">Are you someone in middle age who keeps putting off that planned health kick for another day?<\/p>\n<p>If so, a couple of new studies may give you a sense of urgency.<\/p>\n<p>One paper found that elevated blood pressure in middle age increases the risk of dementia, while another says being frail at this time raises your chances of an early death.<\/p>\n<p>So how bad is a lack of fitness in mid-life and is it condemning you to bad health in the future?<\/p>\n<h2>What&#039;s the dementia risk?<\/h2>\n<p>A study published in the European Heart Journal found those who were aged 50 with a systolic blood pressure of 130mmHg or above were nearly one-and-a-half times more likely to develop dementia than those with ideal blood pressure.<\/p>\n<p>It&#039;s noteworthy that this is below the level of blood pressure considered to be high in the UK (140mmHg).<\/p>\n<p>Researchers suggested a possible explanation for the link was that raised blood pressure could cause damage from &quot;silent&quot; or mini-strokes which can easily go un-noticed.<\/p>\n<p>It&#039;s worth pointing out that the study of 8,639 people shows a link between elevated blood pressure at 50 and dementia but cannot prove cause and effect.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers found no such association for people who were aged 60 or 70.<\/p>\n<p>And any increase in risk needs to be seen in the context of your overall likelihood of getting dementia at some point in your life.<\/p>\n<p>It is estimated that the risk of getting Alzheimer&#039;s, the most common form of dementia, is one in 10 for men and one in five for women from the age of 45.  <\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, Alzheimer&#039;s Research UK said it added to the evidence of a link between high blood pressure and dementia.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How do I keep my brain young?<\/li>\n<li>Middle-aged &#039;can reverse heart risk&#039;<\/li>\n<li>&#039;Middle age health crisis&#039; warning<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What about frailty?<\/h2>\n<p>Frailty is known to be a health risk to people in later life because, among other things, it increases the likelihood of falls.<\/p>\n<p>But a new paper, which examined data from 493,737 people involved in the UK Biobank study, found that being frail earlier in life also appeared to be a predictor of ill health and early death.<\/p>\n<p>The study, published in the Lancet Public Health journal, defined frailty as anyone who had at least three of the following health problems:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Weight loss <\/li>\n<li>Exhaustion <\/li>\n<li>Weak grip strength <\/li>\n<li>Low physical activity <\/li>\n<li>Slow walking pace<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  Getty Images<figcaption>Image caption                                      The key for those who are unfit in middle age is making healthy changes &quot;as soon as possible&quot;                              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After accounting for other factors (including socio-economic status, a number of long-term conditions, smoking, alcohol and BMI), researchers found men between the ages of 37 and 45 were over two-and-a-half times more likely to die than non-frail people of the same age.<\/p>\n<p>The figures were similar in all the other age groups (45-55, 55-65, and 65-73). <\/p>\n<p>Similar associations were found in women who were judged to be frail and were 45 or older. <\/p>\n<p>Frail people were also far more likely to have conditions such as multiple sclerosis and chronic fatigue syndrome. <\/p>\n<p>Lead author of the study, Prof Frances Mair, from the University of Glasgow, said the findings suggested there was a need to both identify and treat frailty much earlier in life.<\/p>\n<h2>So what can we do?<\/h2>\n<p>Dr Peter Hanlon, a co-author on the frailty study, said the good news is that frailty might be reversible in people, particularly if it is identified early.<\/p>\n<p>The key for those who are unfit in middle age is making healthy changes &quot;as soon as possible&quot;, says Ilaria Bellantuono, professor of musculoskeletal ageing at the University of Sheffield.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;The key is a healthy diet and exercise. It&#039;s the only thing we know that works,&quot; she says.<\/p>\n<p>Losing weight, stopping smoking, cutting back on alcohol, exercising regularly and eating less salt are just some of the things you can do to lower your blood pressure. <\/p>\n<p>And similar advice applies to reducing your risk of dementia and helping to keep your brain healthy as you age, says Dr Laura Phipps from Alzheimer&#039;s Research UK.<\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  Getty Images<figcaption>Image caption                                      Cutting salt is one of the ways we can lower our blood pressure                              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But the million pound question is how do you get people to change their habits?<\/p>\n<p>Prof Bellantuono said that for some, health warnings won&#039;t be enough.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, finding an &quot;internal motive that speaks to them&quot; will be key to getting some people to exercise and be healthier.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;That could be picking up the grandchildren or going to watch the football,&quot; she adds.  <\/p>\n<p>Follow Alex on Twitter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Image copyright Getty Images Are you someone in middle age who keeps putting off that planned health kick for another day? If so, a couple of new studies may give<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":140931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}