Heart disease :: Exercise reduces heart attack risk

Exercise reduces the chances of a having a heart attack. Heart attack patients have a higher risk of having another episode if they are also depressed or socially isolated.

“Physicians should also be aware of these findings and think of prescribing exercise just as they would think of prescribing blood pressure meds,” Dr. James Blumenthal.

In their study, Blumenthal and his colleagues followed 2,078 men and women who had experienced a recent heart attack for an average of two years. All participants were either depressed or had low levels of social support.

Overall, regular exercisers were more than 50 percent less likely to die than people who said they did not engage in regular exercise, according to the report, published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

Moreover, regular exercisers experience a larger decrease in symptoms of depression during the study than non-exercisers.

Exercise improves blood pressure, circulation and clotting. Exercise 30 to 60 minutes per day on 5 to 7 days per week would be desirable.


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