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The study’s lead author, Michael J. Lamonte, Ph.D., MPH, found that in older women who are still able to walk around and live at home, higher amounts of daily light and moderate-intensity activity are associated with heart failure. states that the risk is low.Research Professor of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, State University of New York at Buffalo School of Public Health and Health Professions.
“3,600 steps is a reasonable goal for active women and is consistent with the daily activity levels of the women in this study,” says Dr. LaMonte. 3,000 steps equals about a mile and a half.
These study results show that physical activity is an important component of a healthy lifestyle, said Dr. Fitzgerald, vice chair of the division of preventive medicine and epidemiology and respiratory and critical care at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. said Dr. Mercedes Carneson, professor of medicine. .
“Knowing that behaviors that are within our control, such as how much we can reduce the amount of physical activity and the amount of time we sit, can have such a powerful effect on preventing heart failure is a major breakthrough in our field. “This is a huge step forward,” he says. Dr. Carneson was not involved in this study.
Approximately 1 in 4 people will develop heart failure during their lifetime
There are two types of heart failure: reduced ejection fraction and preserved ejection fraction. In heart failure, where the ejection fraction is reduced, the left ventricle, the heart’s main pump, does not contract enough to pump blood out. In heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, the left ventricle does not relax properly after contraction.
Even light housework can reduce the risk of heart failure
The researchers aimed to assess the effects of daily steps, light activity, and sedentary time on the risk of heart failure in women aged 63 to 99 years. The approximately 6,000 women had an average age of 79 years, were 49% white, 34% black, and 17% Hispanic, and had no known heart failure at baseline. Participants enrolled from March 2012 to April 2014 and wore an accelerometer on their lower back for seven consecutive days.
On average, women are active for just over 5.5 hours (340 minutes) per day, and 85% of that activity is done in high-light environments, such as unloading the dishwasher or blow-drying their hair. It was sad. They spent an average of 10 hours and 20 minutes a day sitting.
Based on activity level, women were divided into four groups.
- Active time is less than 276 minutes and steps are less than 2,164
- 276 to 336 minutes, 2,164 to 3,210 steps
- 337-397 minutes, 3,211-4,541 steps
- Over 397 minutes, over 4,541 steps
During an average follow-up of 7.5 years, the researchers observed 407 cases of heart failure. 257 had preserved ejection fraction and 110 had decreased ejection fraction.
Not only did women who walked slightly more than average lower their risk of heart failure, but for every 70 minutes a day spent doing light-intensity physical activity, such as doing housework, participants were 12 percent less likely to develop heart failure. became. For every 30 minutes of more strenuous exercise she did (such as walking or climbing stairs), her risk of heart failure decreased by 16%.
The longer you sat, the higher your risk of heart failure. It was found that for every additional hour and a half of sedentary time, the risk of heart failure increased by 17%.
These findings are unique and important given that there is little published data on physical activity and preserved ejection fraction. Other studies can use this information to advance prevention efforts, LaMonte said.
“And given that there are few effective treatments, it is especially important to prevent this type of heart failure and preserve ejection fraction. Why wait until it occurs and then try to treat it effectively?” “Preventing everything together is a better option,” he says.
Are you still trying (and failing) to hit 10,000 steps a day? Leave it alone
The good news is that just a few more steps each day and a little less time spent sitting can make a big difference in health outcomes, especially for people who rarely move, Lamonte says.
He said “steps per day” is easy to understand and can be measured with a variety of consumer-level wearable devices that allow people to monitor their physical activity. You don’t need to be tech savvy.
“Approximately 3,000 steps per day (mainly steps taken during normal daily activities, short conscious walks, and doing errands around the house) is associated with a 26 percent lower risk of heart failure. Okay, this is an amazing discovery.” And this is much less than the 10,000 steps per day metric that has been promoted for years, but oddly enough, there is no scientific basis behind it. There is no such thing at all,” he says.
Study provides further evidence that reducing step count still has significant health benefits
“Forget about the magic number of 7,000 to 10,000 steps to reap health benefits. We know that even more than about 4,000 steps can be associated with a significant reduction in mortality.” said Maciej Banach, MD, lead author of the meta-analysis. said the adjunct professor at the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore in a previous interview with Everyday Health.
Can men also lower their risk of heart failure by increasing their light activity and walking?
Bottom line: Forget about 10,000 steps.Just sit less and move more
“It’s a simple message: There’s growing evidence to support sitting less and moving more,” Lamonte says. Next to smoking cessation, physical activity is probably the lifestyle intervention with the most heart-healthy benefits, he added.
That doesn’t mean you need to walk 10,000 steps a week or do 150 to 300 minutes of exercise to reap the health benefits, he says. “Some people get the message that they need to hit these benchmarks to get the benefits, but that’s not true. That’s not how the body works. Even just getting off the couch can have benefits. Tweak your activity level here and there. There are benefits to trying to increase it in small increments,” Lamonte says.
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