Heart Attack: Sedentary Lifestyle Doubles the Risk of Recurrence

Our hearts don't care if we do the housework, cook, or swim for an hour. What matters is that we're moving, especially if we've had a heart attack in the past. But rest also helps. A research team led by Columbia University Medical Center in New York recently reaffirmed the importance of healthy lifestyles for our well-being, and in particular that of the heart. According to the research - published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes of the American Heart Association - patients hospitalized for symptoms such as chest pain or heart attack run a higher risk of recurrence if they remain sedentary for too long in the following year. But they can do a lot to lower these risks, and relatively with little.

Tracking your fitness with a smartwatch

The authors of the new study wanted to understand what role a sedentary lifestyle plays in long-term cardiovascular risk. To do so, they asked 609 patients, aged 62 on average and all admitted to hospital for symptoms such as chest pain and heart attack, to wear a wrist accelerometer upon discharge, in order to monitor their physical activity in the month following discharge. Telephone interviews, electronic medical records and a health database were used to estimate cardiac events and deaths in the following year.

The results

Combining this type of data, the researchers observed that, compared to those who were more physically active, the laziest patients, namely those who spent 14 hours essentially still or almost still, had a higher cardiovascular risk. Specifically, they had a 2.58 times greater risk of having a new heart attack, undergoing heart surgery or being hospitalized again within the year following the first hospitalization. The researchers also estimated the benefits of moving (and resting) more. For example, replacing 30 minutes of sedentary activity every day with the same amount of moderate to intense physical activity - such as brisk walking, dancing, tennis, running or swimming - is enough to reduce the risk of these events by 61%. Light-intensity physical activity, on the other hand, led to a 50% decrease in cardiovascular risk.

The Importance of Sleep for Heart Health

In addition to exercise, an interesting aspect of the new analysis was the role of sleep. According to the new data, replacing a sedentary lifestyle with 30 minutes of sleep reduced the risk of cardiac events by 14%. “We were surprised to find that replacing a sedentary lifestyle with sleep also reduced the risk,” said the study’s lead author, Keith Diaz . “Sleep is a restorative behavior that helps the body and mind recover, which is especially important after a major cardiovascular event like a heart attack.”

Sit less and move more

Although the study has some limitations—such as only taking into account the intensity of the movement and not taking into account some social and environmental factors, experts admit—the new findings suggest that intense physical activity is not necessary to obtain benefits after a cardiovascular event. Joining the body of studies that have accumulated on the topic in recent years, the message of the new research is that moving, even a little, can have big benefits.

“This study shows that replacing sedentary time with low-intensity activities, such as tidying the house or taking a slow walk, was nearly as beneficial as moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activities, such as biking or aerobics,” concluded Bethany Barone Gibbs , former chair of the American Heart Association’s Committee on Physical Activity.