Exercise increases heart health

No Excuses

While researching today’s e-Alert I came across an item I told you about last year. The World Heart Federation (WHF) issued a statement warning that a lack of physical activity doubles your chances of developing heart disease while increasing the risk of high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.

The WHF estimates that as much as 85% of the world’s population fails to get even moderate exercise. So, if you’re part of that scant 15%, you’re doing the single most important thing you can do to increase your exercise capacity, enhance your immune system, and make your heart a little healthier every day.

And if you can’t put aside a half hour every day for light exercise, three 10-minute exercise sessions per day are just as good, according to research from the UK. The study concluded that middle-aged men and women who take three 10-minute brisk walks each day showed just as much improvement in their cardiovascular health as subjects who walked for 30 minutes at a stretch each day.

They just keep making it harder for us to find excuses, don’t they?
To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson

Health Sciences Institute
Sources:

“Lack of Exercise ‘Damages Heart'” BBC News, 9/23/02
“Accumulating Brisk Walking for Fitness, Cardiovascular Risk, and Psychological Health” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2002, Sep;34(9):1468-74