A study has found that there’s one easy activity you can add to your day which will slash the risk of having a heart attack. According to the British Heart Foundation, in the UK there are around 100,000 hospital admissions each year due to heart attacks: that’s one every five minutes.
There are things you can do to prevent heart attacks and a new study says that four-and-a-half minutes of brisk walking a day could help. It also found that eating 60g more vegetables a day can make a huge difference and that 11 minutes of extra sleep a night can significantly cut the risk of a heart attack.
Scientists studied the sleep habits and exercise levels of 53,000 middle-aged UK adults using data from wearable devices such as smartwatches. The people also reported their food habits.
Researchers found 2,034 major cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks or strokes, over an eight-year period.
The teams from Australia, Chile and Brazil found that for people with the least healthy lifestyles, who get less than six hours of sleep a night and do very little exercise, even small changes can help.
Researchers found that four-and-a-half minutes of exercise, an extra 11 minutes of sleep, and 60g of veg every day could slash their risk of a serious heart condition by 10%.
Increasing sleep to eight hours, doing 40 minutes of exercise and following a good diet could cut the risk by 57%.
Dr Nicholas Koemel said: “Combining small changes in a few areas of our lives can have a surprisingly large positive impact on our cardiovascular health.”
Emily McGrath, of the British Heart Foundation, said: “Changes don’t need to be big to make a difference. The key is a healthy lifestyle you can stick with.”
On the NHS website, it says there are a few key elements to preventing a heart attack.
It says making lifestyle changes is the most effective way to prevent having a heart attack.
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
