Moderate Exercise may not help prevent Heart Disease

A question of whether daily moderate exercise could actually prevent Heart disease. A study found that only vigorous exercise like jogging, hiking, climbing stairs, racket sports and swimming does really help lower the risk of early death from heart disease. Recommendations in the United States and elsewhere say 30 minutes of moderate activity like brisk walking, is sufficient for good heart health. A World Health Organization report published last month reached the same conclusion. However in a latest study by scientists at Queen's University, Belfast found that activities like walking, bowling, sailing, golfing, dancing and even brisk walking did not lower the risk of early death among 2,000 British men followed for a decade.

Previous research has given conflicting results, dividing experts between a group that believes moderate exercise is enough and a smaller group convinced that vigorous exercise is needed before any heart benefit can occur. A major drawback of the study was that, men were only questioned about their exercise habits one time at the start of the study, so there is no way to know if they have changed their habits over the 10 years the study was conducted. The researchers found that those who did the most exercise were 40 per cent less likely to die than those who did the least.