Health & Fitness Alert:Vigorous physical activity lowers psoriasis risk

GREETINGS,

Vigorous physical activity lowers psoriasis risk

Researchers from of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston reviewed health data of more than 86,000 women to investigate the association between physical activity and psoriasis.
Their findings which appeared in the Archives of Dermatology showed that women who were engaged in regular vigorous physical activity had a 25 to 30 percent lower risk of psoriasis.
The most pronounced risk reduction was seen in women who reported running for at least an hour each week.
Additionally, the benefits were only seen in participants who were regularly engaged in vigorous exercise while other types of physical activity such as walking, swimming, and bicycling did not lower the risk.
“Exercise is a modifiable risk factor. Here is another reason to change lifestyle and exercise,” said senior author Dr. Abrar Qureshi.
“Most interesting was our finding that intensity of exercise was linked to psoriasis risk, where less vigorous physical activity such as walking was not associated with a lower risk for new-onset psoriasis,” he added.
“The plausible mechanisms behind these findings are several,” Qureshi said. “For example, physical activity may lower systemic inflammation.”
Prior studies have also tied regular exercise to lower risk of other diseases associated with inflammation, such as type 2 diabetes, cancer and coronary artery disease, noted the researchers.