Gardening, home improvements help reduce heart/stroke risk (Sweden)

Gardening and home do-it-yourself projects can reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke by 30 percent in those age 60 and older, researchers in Sweden say. Elin Ekblom-Bak of Karolinska University Hospital, Bjorn Ekblom of the The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, Max Vikstrom of the Institute of Environmental Medicine at the Karolinska University Hospital and colleagues based their findings on almost 4,000 60-year-olds in Stockholm, whose cardiovascular health was tracked for about 12.5 years. At the start of the study, participants took part in a health check, which included information on lifestyle, such as diet, smoking, and alcohol intake and how physically active they were. The study participants were asked how often they had included a range of daily life activities, such as gardening, DIY, car maintenance and blackberry picking in the previous 12 months, as well as any formal exercise. Their cardiovascular health was assessed by lab tests and physical examinations and check for blood fats, blood sugars and blood clotting factor - high levels of which are linked to a raised heart attack and stroke risk. The study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found the highest level of daily physical activity was associated with a 27 percent lower risk of a heart attack or stroke and a 30 percent reduced risk of death from all causes, compared with the lowest level of activity, irrespective of how much regular formal exercise was taken in addition

Gardening reduces obesity risk

As well as providing a form of regular exercise, gardening could encourage people to eat more healthily if they grow their own vegetables, researchers said. It could also provide an important social benefit for those who share an allotment with others, for example by introducing them to like-minded people with similarly healthy lifestyles. Researchers from the University of Utah studied a group of 198 gardeners who shared community gardens - an American system similar to allotments - in Salt Lake City. They compared the gardeners' body mass index (BMI), calculated as someone's weight divided by the square of their height, against their neighbours to determine if their hobby made them healthier. On average, female community gardeners on average had a BMI which was 1.84 lower than their neighbours, which translates to an 11lb weight loss for a woman measuring 5ft 5in tall. For male gardeners, BMI scores were 2.36 lower on average - a difference of 16lb in weight for a 5ft 10in man, according to the study published in the American Journal of Public Health. Female gardeners were also 46 per cent less likely to be overweight or obese than their neighbours. The figure for male gardeners was 62 per cent. Gardeners were also more likely to have a healthier figure than their siblings, but not their husbands and wives - suggesting that spouses may also benefit from helping out on the allotment and eating the fruits of their labour. Prof Cathleen Zick, who led the study, said: "This initial study validates the idea that community gardens are a valuable neighbourhood asset that can promote healthier living. "That could be of interest to urban planners, public health officials and others focused on designing new neighbourhoods and revitalising old ones."