Yesterday, we talked about the latest reason why aspirin therapy isn’t the safest choice for patients looking to prevent cardiovascular events.
Even as a form of secondary prevention (that is, after you’ve already had an event like a heart attack), the line of thinking is starting to shift toward short-term use of aspirin. And—it’s about time.
The fact is, there are a lot of effective options for managing your cardiovascular risk that don’t require you to take a gamble on the potential side effects of aspirin therapy, like heart failure or gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding.
So, today, allow me to share some new research on one of the safest and most effective…
Move more, live longer
As part of a recent study, Dutch researchers collected data from the Lifelines Cohort Study, featuring nearly 170,000 subjects. They looked at links between physical activity and major cardiovascular events (like heart attack and stroke) as well as death by any cause.
They investigated these associations between three groups: healthy subjects, subjects with high heart risk factors, and subjects with heart disease. And here’s what they found…
As you might expect, increasing exercise cut mortality risk across all groups. But the benefits leveled off after a certain point among both healthy and high-risk subjects. (Like I’m always saying, something is always better than nothing—but sometimes less is just as good as more.)
However, among subjects with heart disease, there was no upper threshold to the health benefits of physical activity. Meaning that, for these patients, more was better.
In other words, exercise is one of the simplest and most powerful things you can do for your health—especially if you have a history of heart disease.
Stay fit in any season
Of course, now that winter has arrived—and with another wave of COVID-19 crashing down on us—you might be at a loss as to how to stay active.
The good news is, traditional gym workouts aren’t the only way to stay healthy. And as we’ve discussed here before, there are plenty of ways to get fit from the comfort and safety of your own home.
Even outdoor exercise isn’t completely off the table. Just keep in mind that the risks to your heart sometimes rise as the temperature drops. But with a few extra precautions, you can still reap the benefits that winter workouts have to offer.
In fact, I covered this exact topic in the latest issue of my monthly newsletter, Logical Health Alternatives [“ALERT: Cold weather exercise comes with deadly health risks”]. So if you’re not a subscriber yet, consider signing up today… your heart will thank you all season long.
And in the meantime, continue incorporating some sort of exercise into your daily routine—to the tune of at least 150 minutes per week (which breaks down to just a little over 20 minutes daily).