Moderate Physical Activity Reduces Women’s Heart Disease Risk by 20%

Middle-aged women who are physically active a few times a week have a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, and blood clots than inactive women, according to a new study in the journal Circulation.

“In our study, moderately frequent levels of activity in middle-aged women were associated with lower risks than inactivity, and more frequent activity did not reduce risks further,” says lead study author Miranda Armstrong, M.Phil., Ph.D, a physical activity epidemiologist at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
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“Activities may not necessarily need to be sports or exercise at the gym, because even everyday activities such as gardening and walking were associated with significantly lower risks in these women,” she says.

Armstrong and her colleagues examined data from 1.1 million English and Scottish women with no history of cancer, heart disease, stroke, blood clots, or diabetes who joined the Million Women Study in 1996 to 2001.

Joining the study at an average age of 56, the women reported their level of physical activity at enrollment and again 3 years later. The researchers looked at hospital admissions and deaths in relation to the participants’ responses and followed up for an average of 9 years.

They found that women who performed strenuous physical activity—enough work up a sweat or speed up their heart beat—2 to 3 times per week were about 20% less likely to develop heart disease, stroke, or blood clots, compared to participants who reported little or no activity.

While the study was not designed to estimate a particular optimal level of activity, the researchers found little evidence to suggest that activity more frequent than a few times per week provided further benefits in relation to these diseases.

“A large proportion of women in middle age do not achieve recommended levels of activity—encouraging inactive middle-aged women to engage in some kind of regular physical activity is likely to benefit their heart health,” Armstrong says.  “The take-away message is that compared to being inactive, even moderate levels of activity are associated with a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, and blood clots.”

The team plans to conduct further research in this area, investigating the associations between physical activity levels and mortality from these diseases.

—Colleen Mullarkey

Reference

Armstrong ME, Green J, Reeves GK, Beral V, Cairns BJ. Frequent physical activity may not reduce vascular risk as much as moderate activity: large prospective study of UK women.

Circulation. 16 February 2015. [Epub ahead of print].