If you’ve dutifully been carving out 30 minutes a day for a moderate workout, this news may be disappointing to you. According to a new study published in the journal Circulation, 30 minutes of activity may not be good enough.
Researchers reviewed 12 studies involving more than 370,460 men and women with varying levels of physical activity. Participants self-reported their daily activities, allowing the researchers to estimate the amount of exercise they were doing. Over a follow-up time of 15 years, the group experienced 20,203 heart failure events.
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They found that those following the 30-minutes-a-day guidelines issued by the American Heart Association had only “modest reductions” in heart failure risk compared to those who did not work out at all. But those who exercised twice and four times as much had “a substantial risk reduction” of 20% and 35%, respectively.
These findings not only challenges the notion of the 30-minute exercise routine, but emphasizes the idea that physical activity and heart failure may be what they called “dose dependent.” That means that higher levels of physical activity appeared to be linked to a lower risk of heart failure.
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So what can you do? We at ForMen stand by the idea that any exercise you can fit into your day is good; not all of us can carve out 1-2 hours a day to work out. If you can’t fit in longer workouts, plenty of research shows that lower amounts, even microbursts of intense 10 to 15 minutes of activity, can be beneficial. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that one minute of vigorous activity is about the same as two minutes of moderate activity. And, of course, a workout doesn’t always mean exercising at a gym. Go on a hike, play some basketball, that all counts toward your exercise total.
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Curated article from:
Washington Post
Relevant sources and studies:
Circulation
