Even a Little Exercise Helps

A study published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation found that just a little exercise by older women is better than none, at least when it comes to lowering the risk of heart disease, stroke and blood clots.

Being active just a few times a week is all it takes. In fact, researchers were surprised to find that more frequent physical activity didn’t result in further reductions in risk.

The study revealed that: 

• Women who performed strenuous physical activity – enough to cause sweating or a faster heart beat – two to three times per week were about 20 percent less likely to develop heart disease, strokes or blood clots compared to participants who reported little or no activity.
•  Among active women, there was little evidence of further risk reductions with more frequent activity.
•  Physical activities associated with reduced risk included walking, gardening and cycling.

“To prevent heart disease, stroke and blood clots, our results suggest that women don’t need to do very frequent activity as this seems to provide little additional benefit above that from moderately frequent activity,” said Miranda Armstrong, M.Phil., Ph.D., the study’s lead author and a physical activity epidemiologist at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

To learn more about this study, visit http://newsroom.heart.org/news/women-active-a-few-times-weekly-have-lower-risk-of-heart-disease-stroke-and-blood-clots?preview=6863http://newsroom.heart.org/news/women-active-a-few-times-weekly-have-lower-risk-of-heart-disease-stroke-and-blood-clots?preview=6863.