You don’t even have to work up a sweat. Just standing at your desk instead of sitting can help reduce the risk of heart disease. New research, published Monday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, suggests that even minimal exercise can significantly improve one’s cardiovascular health.

The report, “Exercise at the Extremes,” sought to examine past research which suggested that very intense exercise, such as training for a marathon, was as bad for one’s heart as not exercising at all.

On that front, the report, led by Dr. Thijs M.H. Eijsvogels, of Liverpool John Moores University in Liverpool, U.K., found that the benefits of intense exercise were likely greater than the drawbacks.

The research that has found major exercise events to be harmful is limited, but it has led too many people to think twice about working out, noted one of the study authors in a press release announcing the report.

"The public media has embraced the idea that exercise may harm the heart and disseminated this message, thereby diverting attention away from the benefits of exercise as a potent intervention for the primary and secondary prevention of heart disease," said Dr. Michael Scott Emery, co-chair of the Sports and Exercise Cardiology Council.

But the more important question for researchers is what to make of the 50 percent of Americans who fall short of the 150 minutes of weekly moderate exercise or 75 minutes of weekly vigorous exercise recommended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The report found that even those who fall well short of that goal have a significantly reduced rate of mortality.

“Simply standing more than two hours per day is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular events than sitting all day,” Dr. Paul Thompson of Hartford Hospital in Connecticut told TCTMD, an online news publication focusing on cardiovascular health. “I think that’s important because, as we’ve become more mechanized and computerized, some of us spend nearly all of our time sitting.”

Instant Insights /

Even minimal exercise can reduce risk of heart problems

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