Patients with heart problems benefit most from exercise

Patients with heart problems benefit more from exercise than healthy people and can slash their risk of early death by 14 per cent with regular workouts, new study claims

• Cardiovascular disease sufferers cut risk of early death with regular exercise
• Patients with heart problems get a much bigger survival boost from being active 
• The NHS says adults need 150 minutes of exercise each week 

Patients with heart problems benefit twice as much from exercise as healthy people, it was claimed yesterday.

A study of more than 400,000 middle-aged people found those with cardiovascular disease slashed their risk of an early death by 14 per cent if they regularly exercised.

Mortality risk for healthy people who did the same level of exercise fell just 7 per cent.

Patients with heart problems benefit twice as much from exercise as healthy people

Experts said it is the first time research has shown patients with heart problems get a much bigger survival boost from being active.

Dr Sang-Woo Jeong, presenting his report at the European Society of Cardiology congress in Paris, said: ‘People with cardiovascular disease benefit from a physically active lifestyle to a greater extent than healthy people without cardiovascular disease.’

The NHS says adults need 150 minutes of exercise each week – such as a 30-minute brisk walk five times a week. 

Around 7.4 million people in Britain have cardiovascular disease. 

But officials have warned of an ‘inactivity epidemic’ in Britain, with four in ten older adults failing to do even 10 minutes of exercise a month.

Officials have warned of an ‘inactivity epidemic’ in Britain, with four in ten older adults failing to do even 10 minutes of exercise a month

Fellow researcher Dr Si-Hyuck Kang, of Seoul National University in South Korea, said: ‘Doctors should emphasise the importance of a physically active lifestyle for patients with cardiovascular disease.

‘They should be encouraged to maintain as much physical activity as possible. People who are physically active sleep better, feel better and function better. We would like to stress that physical activity is an economic way to live longer, healthier and happier, with little adverse effects.’

Scientists said heart patients experience a bigger survival boost from exercise than healthy adults because they were more likely to have had an inactive lifestyle.

Experts think activity helps tackle underlying blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar problems that may have triggered their disease.

And it may also reduce inflammation, which is thought to raise risk of heart attacks and strokes.

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