03/29/2026
Even small improvements to your daily habits – a few minutes more sleep, a couple extra minutes of exercise, a daily side serving of veggies – can lower your risk of heart attack, stroke and heart failure, a new study says.
People who slept 11 minutes more, performed an extra 4.5 minutes of exercise, and ate an additional quarter cup of vegetables had a 10% lower risk of major heart health problems, researchers reported March 23 in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
Those who had the optimum combination of these lifestyle choices were rewarded with an overall 57% lower risk of heart problems, compared to those with the worst habits, researchers found!
“We show that combining small changes in a few areas of our lives can have a surprisingly large positive impact on our cardiovascular health,” lead researcher Nicholas Koemel, a research fellow at the University of Sydney in Australia, said in a news release.
“This is very encouraging news because making a few small, combined changes is likely more achievable and sustainable for most people when compared with attempting major changes in a single behavior,” Koemel said.
For the new study, researchers tracked more than 53,000 adults participating in the UK Biobank, a long-term health research project in the United Kingdom. The participants were followed for an eight-year period.
Results showed that the best lifestyle for heart health involves sleeping for eight to nine hours per night, completing more than 42 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day, and eating a modestly healthy diet.
People who followed that pattern had a 57% lower risk of heart problems, researchers found.
The team noted that the sort of exercise that improved heart health can be as simple as taking the stairs, carrying shopping bags or walking briskly.
Of course eat more fruits and vegetables, Wild caught fish, organic grass fed beef, good oils and not bad ones and get your QRNR.us quarterly check ups and rock on!!!