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A daily life movement reduces risk of death from heart disease by 62%, according to experts

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This simple daily life movement reduces the risk of stroke by 32%, coronary heart disease risk by 43% and death risk from cardiovascular disease by 62%.

Seniors, keep in mind that running or brisk walking isn’t the only strategy to lower your risk of heart disease. Simply being “up and about” conducting normal chores, such as housework, gardening, cooking, and self-care activities like showering, can have a major positive impact on cardiovascular health.

According to a new study published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, women who do daily life movement for at least four hours per day have a 43 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease, a 43 percent lower risk of coronary heart disease, a 30 percent lower risk of stroke, and, most importantly, a 62 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease death than women who do for less than two hours per day.

Habits that can reduce the risk of death from heart disease by 62%, according to experts
Habits that can reduce the risk of death from heart disease by 62%

“The study demonstrates that all movement counts towards disease prevention,” says first author Steve Nguyen. “Spending more time in daily life movement, which includes a wide range of activities we all do while on our feet and out of our chairs, resulted in a lower risk of cardiovascular disease.”

In the study, the team analyzed the physical activity including sitting, sitting in a vehicle, standing still, daily life movement such as gardening, preparing meals or walking or running of nearly 5,416 American women, who were aged 63 to 97 and who did not have heart disease at the start of the study.

For up to seven days, participants wore a research-grade accelerometer to get accurate measures of how much time they spent moving and, more importantly, the types of common daily life behaviors that result in movement and are not often included in prior studies of light and moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity. Prior research has focused on the intensity and length of activities such as running and brisk walking, whereas the current study measured smaller movements of varied intensities during activities such as cooking.

Cardiovascular disease remains the top cause of mortality in both men and women in the United States, with rates peaking in those aged 65 and up.

According to the findings of this study, 616 women were diagnosed with cardiovascular disease, 268 were diagnosed with coronary heart disease, 253 had a stroke, and 331 died as a result of cardiovascular disease

“Much of the movement engaged in by older adults is associated with daily life tasks, but it may not be considered physical activity. Understanding the benefits of daily life movement and adding this to physical activity guidelines may encourage more movement,” adds senior author Andrea LaCroix.

Daily life movement includes all activities done while moving on one’s feet during activities such as housework, gardening, cooking and self-care activities.

Daily life movement includes all activities done while moving on one’s feet during activities such as housework, gardening, cooking and self-care activities.

Source: 10.1161/JAHA.121.023433

Image Credit: Getty

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