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Here’s how often you need to exercise to keep your heart young

Scientists have long argued over how much exercise is needed to keep arteries ‘young’ – preventing them from stiffening, which raises the risk of heart disease.

Exercising four to five days per week turns out to be the ‘right’ level, researchers have said.

The study found that two to three days of 30 minutes exercise is enough to keep mid-sized arteries from stiffening – but to preserve the larger central arteries, four to five days is needed.

Researchers have said doing exercise four to five days per week turns out to be the ‘right’ level. Source: AAP via PA Wire
Researchers have said doing exercise four to five days per week turns out to be the ‘right’ level. Source: AAP via PA Wire

The authors examined 102 people over 60 years old, with a consistently logged exercise history.

Benjamin Levine, one of the authors of the study, said: “This work is really exciting because it enables us to develop exercise programs to keep the heart youthful and even turn back time on older hearts and blood vessels.

“Previous work by our group has shown that waiting until 70 is too late to reverse a heart’s ageing, as it is difficult to change cardiovascular structure even with a year of training.

“Our current work is focussing on two years of training in middle aged men and women, with and without risk factors for heart diseases, to see if we can reverse the ageing of a heart and blood vessels by using the right amount of exercise at the right time.”