Even Small Amounts of Exercise Cuts CVD Mortality Risk

A new clinical perspective paper from the American College of Cardiology Sports and Exercise Cardiology Leadership Council finds a link between small amounts of physical activity and a lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), and concludes that more exercise decreases that risk even further.

In its report, the council evaluated recent research that focused on the volume and intensity of aerobic exercise required for favorable cardiovascular health. The team also sought to determine whether there is an amount of exercise that actually increases CVD risk.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

RELATED CONTENT
Can Exercise Prevent Depression?
Study: Strenuous Exercise As Bad As No Exercise
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

While finding that the cardiovascular mortality benefit from exercise does seem to peak at some point, the council concluded that moderate- and vigorous-intensity exercise in amounts lower than those recommended in the 2008 Physical Activity Guideline still lower mortality risk considerably in different populations. In addition, the council found that increasing the amount of moderate-intensity exercise leads to greater reductions in cardiovascular disease mortality.

“Even a little bit of exercise done routinely seems to help reduce cardiac disease. Even standing has some benefit,” says Paul Thompson, MD, chief of cardiology at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut, and a co-author of the paper.

Thompson notes that current recommendations call for 150 minutes of moderate or brisk walking, and 75 minutes of vigorous jogging per week, adding that “you get benefits far below that and above that.”

While “there seems to be no upper limit for moderate activity … there may be some loss of benefit when one does extreme levels of physical activity,” he says, noting that cardiac rehabilitation can be especially advantageous for those with coronary artery disease.

—Mark McGraw

Reference

Eijsvogels T, Molossi S, et al. Exercise at the Extremes: The Amount of Exercise to Reduce Cardiovascular Events. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2016.