Study Says Walking 30 Minutes A Day Isn't Enough

Don't freak out, but those 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise that millions of us do isn't enough to keep heart failure at bay.

Turns out that exercising twice to four times as much that amount reduced people's risk of heart risk by 20 to 35 percent respectively. The analysis of a dozen older studies was published in the journal Circulation, and this research challenges the American Heart Association's (AHA) minimum guidelines of exercising only half an hour a day with activities like brisk walking.

To be fair, the AHA said that figure results in "modest reductions" of risk of heart failure compared to those who didn't do anything and the AHA does say that more physical activity is always better. Heart failure happens when your ticker can't get enough blood to your body, and this condition affects more than 5.1 million Americans and leads to $32 billion in health-care costs a year. 

The number of people experiencing heart failure is expected to shoot up by25 percent in 2030 from what it was in 2010. 

The findings suggested a "dose dependent" relationship linking heart failure and exercise — so higher levels of physical activity meant lower risk of heart failure. That was the case regardless of age, gender or race.

Jarett D. Berry, senior author and associate professor at University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, said doctors and policy makers have to take note.

Basic symptom list for heart failure

The analysis looked at the combined data from over 15 years of 370,460 men and women with varying levels of physical activity. The researchers found that 20,203 of them had heart failure events. Each participant in the different studies reported their daily activities and gave researchers a ballpark number.

Berry said that 30 minutes a day probably won't be enough for middle-aged people with hypertension and that people with diabetes or a history of heart disease should do a lot more. But the problem is fitting in 300 to 600 minutes of "moderate" exercise into our week.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says one minute of vigorous activity counts for two minutes of moderate activity. So as long as that activity makes you breathe hard and pushes up your heart rate, you're in the clear for it counting towards your exercise time.

Vigorous Activity: Jogging, swimming laps, riding quickly on a bike, singles tennis or basketball

Moderate-intensity activity: Speed walking, water aerobics, pushing lawnmower, taking a leisurely bike ride




Main image via Medics Index | Chase Jarvis / Getty Images

Collage image via The Atlantic | Dominick Reuter / Reuters

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