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Study: football fantastic for cardiovascular workout
New University of Copenhagen study shows football can lower blood pressure in the short term, increase fitness and help with weight loss
The University of Copenhagen has released details of a comprehensive studies showing the overwhelming benefits of playing football, including lowering blood pressure and cholesterol.
One of the studies focusing on the health benefits of football for inactive men with high blood pressure found that 2 hours of football a week for three months dramatically reduced blood pressure, resting pulse and percentage of body fat.
A control group of men who were following medically advised healthy eating, exercise and regular blood pressure measurements, did not experience similar drops in their blood pressure.
The study concluded that football ‘is an effective form of exercise that can lower the blood pressure in hypertensive patients within a relatively short frame’.
Concurrent studies carried out on both inactive men and women found that a regular game of football had both short and long term effects on factors that could lead to cardiovascular disease.
After just 16 weeks’ training, with two hours of football a week, the group of inactive women aged 20 to 45 saw noticeable improvements in their cardiovascular systems.
Compared with those in a control group who took up running, the footballers saw their oxygen intake improve by 15 percent, compared to an increase of 10 percent for the runners.
The footballers also increased muscles mass in their legs more than the runners and improved their sprinting speed while the runners did not.
‘Recreational women’s football players exercise with high heart rates and perform multiple intense actions, such as sprints, jumps, turns, shots and tackles – making soccer an effective integration of cardio-vascular training and strength training, even for women without prior experience with football,’ concluded the study.
Peter Krustrup, project leader and associate professor at the Department of Exercise and Sports Science at the university said the research showed football to be an intense and versatile form of exercise that positively affected cardiovascular risks.
‘Based on the results, football can be recommended as part of the treatment for high blood pressure and as a broad-spectrum preventative for cardiovascular diseases,’ he said.
The conclusions of the 14 studies, carried out by 50 researchers from seven countries, are due to be published in the February edition of the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports.
The researchers plan to follow up with similar studies examining the effect of football on patients with diabetes II and cancer and look at the long-term effects on blood pressure and early stage osteoporosis.
The Copenhagen Post
