A recently study shows how a 20 minute walk can benefit patients with cardiac problems. A study confirms that walking or cycling for 20 minutes a day can cut older men’s risk of heart failure by a fifth.
Researchers have found that the least physically active men are most at risk. But too much exercise can also increase the danger of the condition this affects hundreds of men. Researchers who analysed 33,000 men between 1998 and 2012 found the least physically active were the most likely to develop heart failure. The condition happens when the heart becomes too weak to pump sufficient blood around the body. Analysis of the most beneficial forms of activity showed that walking or cycling for 20 minutes a day was associated with the biggest risk reduction. It was more protective than heavy-duty exercise. The men, who averaged 60, filled out a questionnaire asking them about their levels of exercise the previous year. They also recalled how active they were at the age of 30.
The research showed that recent active behaviour had a bigger impact on heart failure risk than activity earlier in life. The study did not look at women. But there is no suggestion that they cannot reduce their risk of heart failure by becoming physically active.
Study author Andrea Bellavia, of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, said “Because participants also provided information about their physical activity at age 30, we were able to examine the long-term impacts of physical activity. “We found that recent activity may be more important for heart failure protection than past physical activity levels.
The first incidence of heart failure in men was also later for those who actively walked or bicycled 20 minutes each day.” The research, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Heart Failure, suggested too little and too much activity may increase the relative risk of the condition.
