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Ten minutes exercise a twice a week can reduce the risk of heart disease
Also makes women less likely to suffer from a stroke or blood clots by 20%
Applies to gentler exercise such as walking, gardening and cycling
Research was carried out by Oxford University and funded by British Heart Foundation
By JENNY HOPE MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT FOR THE DAILY MAIL
Exercising vigorously for just ten minutes twice a week is enough to help middle-aged women avoid heart disease, a study has found.
Women who did strenuous activity two to three times a week – enough to cause sweating or a fast heartbeat – were 20 per cent less likely to suffer from heart problems, stroke and blood clots than inactive women, researchers said.
Those who did gentler exercise, such as walking, gardening or cycling, four to six times a week had the same reduction in their risk of heart disease.
Indeed, doing any physical activity at all was found to lower risk by a certain amount, compared with being inactive.
But surprisingly, getting active more than three times a week did not result in a further drop in risk.
The chance of heart disease was no lower among the small proportion of women who did some strenuous activity more than three times a week than among those who did so two to three times.
The Oxford University research, which is published in the journal Circulation, is based on data from more than a million UK women who took part in the Million Women Study, a major health project that was started in 1996.
The latest analysis was funded by the British Heart Foundation, the Medical Research Council and Cancer Research UK. Lead author Dr Miranda Armstrong, a physical activity epidemiologist, said: ‘Inactive middle-aged women should try to do some activity regularly.
‘Positively, the research showed that every effort to be physically active could contribute to improving heart health. Women who were active two to three times a week were able to cut the risk of heart disease substantially.’…More Here
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