How to live longer: Exercise for at least 150 minutes every week
Published by the American Heart Association (AHA) on the lifestyle habits of 100,000 participants over a 3-year period, researchers concluded that there was an optimal exercise window of around 150 to 600 minutes per week.
In terms of hours, this equates to 2.5 to 10 hours of exercise per week.
What’s more, they found that adults who did two to four times the recommended minimum amount of vigorous exercise per week had a 21-23% reduced risk of death.
Meanwhile, those who did two to four times the recommended minimum of moderate physical activity saw the percentage range drop to between 26 and 31%.
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Like the NHS, the AHA recommends a minimum of 150 minutes of exercise per week.
Harvard research associate Dong Hoon said of the findings: “The potential impact of physical activity on health is significant, but it is unclear whether engaging in high levels of activity Prolonged, vigorous, or moderate-intensity exercise above recommended levels provides additional benefits or adverse effects on cardiovascular health.
“Our study relied on repeated measures of self-reported physical activity over decades to examine the association between long-term physical activity in middle and late adulthood and mortality.”
However, the study established above the 600-minute marker that exercise did not provide an additional reduction in the risk of death.
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As a result, the study adds to a significant body of research and evidence showing how beneficial physical activity is for overall health.
The cardiovascular system is an area of the body where exercise, especially cycling, running and jogging, has a positive effect.
These exercises, and others, help strengthen this area and improve the flow of oxygen to important areas of the body such as the brain and other organs.
It comes at a time of increasing focus on heart disease in the UK.
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A recent report published in the journal Open Heart suggests that around 300,000 people in the UK may have life-threatening heart disease, but a third of this group may not be aware of it.
The disease in question is known as aortic valve stenosis; it occurs when the aortic valve of the heart narrows.
If the valve does not open fully, it can reduce blood flow to the rest of the body.
Data suggests that more than half of those diagnosed with advanced disease could die without adequate treatment.
Aortic valve stenosis is often not diagnosed until a later stage because it does not cause symptoms at first.
The researchers wrote that their study suggested that the disease “affects many people within the UK population aged 55 or over”.
They added: “Without proper detection and intervention, their prospects for survival are likely to be poor.”
Such is the nature of the potential crisis that researchers have warned the NHS will not be able to cope with the potential wave of patients with the disease.