The BEST Exercise for a Healthier Heart
You know that exercise is good for you. But after that, things quickly become unclear.
What’s the BEST form of exercise?
And how long should you do it?
Or what’s the ideal number of steps to take?
Are there specific exercises that are better for your heart?
Well, researchers decided to ask these same questions, and here’s what they found…
The standard exercise recommendations are based on time.
And the current recommended time is 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity exercise or 75 minutes of high-intensity.
But what if you don’t want to set aside dedicated “exercise” time? What if you’re simply moving about your day… whether it’s doing yard work, cleaning the house, running errands, or fixing dinner?
Could tracking your movements using a step counter be an adequate way to ensure you get the same benefits of a traditional workout?
Researchers put time-based versus step-based exercises to the test to find out.
Step-counting devices tracked their activity, and results showed that women averaged 62 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity per week and reached an average of 5,183 steps daily.
Overall, those who did the most physical activity had the greatest reductions in their heart disease and death risk—up to a 30 to 40 percent drop!
And here’s the kicker…
It didn’t matter whether someone was doing a timed activity or counting steps… the more active someone was, the better the results.
I like tracking steps because they factor in the movement of everyday life. The term “exercise” implies that you can put in your time, and then you’re done.
The problem is that even if you hit the recommended exercise time goal, your body will still suffer if you’re sedentary the rest of the time.
The bottom line is that it doesn’t really matter what you’re doing. What matters is that you move more than you don’t.
So, hop to it.
P.S. The exercise benefit you NEVER saw coming.
SOURCE:
Hamaya R, Shiroma EJ, Moore CC, Buring JE, Evenson KR, Lee I. Time- vs Step-Based Physical Activity Metrics for Health. JAMA Intern Med. Published online May 20, 2024. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2024.0892
