An hour of moderate exercise daily halves heart failure risks

A new study has revealed that an hour of moderate exercise everyday or half an hour of vigorous exercise reduces the heart failure risk by 46 percent.

Swedish researchers found that the more active a person was, the lower was their risk for heart failure and the physical activity was equally beneficial for men and women.

The study also found that those who developed heart failure were older, male, had lower levels of education, a higher body mass index and waist-hip ratio, and had a history of heart attack, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Co-author Kasper Andersen, researcher at the Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden, said that even quite low levels of activity could give positive effects, and that, physical activity lowered many heart disease risk factors, which in turn lowered the risk of developing heart failure as well as other heart diseases.

Andersen added that walking, bicycling or taking the stairs could make a big difference in the Western world, which promoted a sedentary lifestyle.

The study is published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Heart Failure.