A groundbreaking study published in European Journal of Preventive Cardiology shows that you don’t need grueling workouts or drastic diets to protect your heart. Researchers have found that adding just a few minutes of exercise and sleep, along with a token serving of vegetables, can make the difference between life and death.
Many different factors influence the risk of heart attack, stroke and heart failure, and many of them involve lifestyle choices that most people can make — including three small improvements in sleep, diet and physical activity, highlighted in a new study.
The study looked at how three factors (sleep, diet and exercise) influence cardiovascular health. The data showed that adding 11 extra minutes of sleep, 4.5 extra minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, and an extra quarter cup of vegetables each day was associated with a 10 percent reduction in the risk of major cardiovascular events (including heart attack, stroke, and heart failure) over an eight-year period.
“We show that combining small changes in several areas of our lives can have a surprisingly large positive impact on cardiovascular health.”says Nicholas Koemel, a nutritionist at the University of Sydney. “This is encouraging news because making small, combined changes is likely an easier goal to achieve and maintain for most people than trying to make big changes in a single behavior.”
For better results, the study also identified a “gold profile”. Thus, people who adopted it recorded a 57% decrease in the risk of major cardiovascular events. This profile involves: between 8-9 hours of sleep per night, more than 40 minutes of moderate-vigorous physical activity per day and a high consumption of fruit, fish and whole grains, drastically reducing processed meat and juices.
