This Simple Lifestyle Change Could Help Lower Your Heart Attack Risk by Up to 61%, New Study Says
Reviewed by Dietitian Alyssa Pike, RDNA new study focuses on former emergency room (ER) patients with symptoms like chest pain.
After leaving the ER, sedentary behavior was linked with a higher risk of cardiac events.
But replacing sedentary behavior with sleep or exercise reduced the risk.Mounting research supports the notion that the more sedentary time you rack up, the higher your risk of disease, including dementia. Too much sitting may even shorten your lifespan. Sedentary behavior has also been linked to a higher risk of heart disease, the number one cause of death in the U.S.
Each year, more than 11 million people visit emergency rooms across the country with chest pain, and around 65% of them are admitted to the hospital. That makes up a quarter of all hospital admissions from the ER. But even though heart disease is the top cause of death in America, it's also highly preventable. Diet, physical activity, stress and sleep all play important roles in heart health—whether you've been diagnosed with heart disease or not.
Researchers from Columbia University took a closer look at sedentary behavior following an ER or hospital admission for chest pain and other symptoms of acute coronary syndrome (ACS), including shortness of breath, sweating and dizziness. They wanted to know if there was a connection between the amount of sedentary behavior and the risk of having a cardiac event, like a heart attack, or death from a cardiac event during the year following the hospital visit. They recently published their findings in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. Let's break them down.
Related: 7 Carbs You Should Be Buying for Better Blood Pressure
For this study, researchers recruited patients who visited the ER at Columbia University Medical Center with symptoms suggestive of acute coronary syndrome between September 2016 and March 2020. They accepted a total of 609 participants who met their criteria. Participants' average age was 62, and just over half were male.
Participants each received a wrist accelerometer to wear, which records time and intensity of movement, sleep and sedentary behavior. Accelerometers were provided to patients while in the hospital. They were instructed to wear it on their non-dominant wrist continuously for 24 hours while in the hospital and for at least 30 days post-discharge.
Besides accelerometer data, researchers also gathered data on age, sex, race/ethnicity, education and whether or not they had a partner, health insurance and an actual diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome.
Ultimately, researchers were looking for participants who had a cardiac event or died of any cause during the 12 months following entry into the study. Researchers received this information from electronic medical records and by calling participants at the end of the study period. Cardiac events included a heart attack, urgent coronary revascularization (like cardiac bypass surgery) or hospitalization for unstable angina (chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart).
Several findings surfaced following statistical analysis.
Replacing 30 minutes of sedentary time with low-intensity physical activity was associated with a 51% lower risk of cardiac events and dying from anything.
Replacing 30 minutes of sedentary time with moderate-vigorous physical activity was associated with a 61% lower risk of cardiac events and dying from anything.
Replacing 30 minutes of sedentary time with 30 minutes of sleep was associated with a 14% lower risk of cardiac events and dying from anything.
Ultimately, these results suggest that swapping sitting with just about anything else, including sleep, may reduce the risk of cardiac events and death.
An important note that researchers highlight is that there is evidence suggesting that patients who are hospitalized with symptoms suggestive of acute coronary syndrome, but who ultimately have acute coronary syndrome ruled out, are still at increased risk of adverse outcomes, including cardiovascular events. In other words, if you are hospitalized for signs of a heart attack but they rule it out, you are likely still at high risk for having one. So if you have symptoms but are not formally diagnosed, you should still take those symptoms seriously.
There are a few limitations to this study. First, participants wore accelerometers during the first 30 days following discharge. Some patients might have been less active during this time, as people are often cautious about movement following cardiac events. Also, while certain demographics were adjusted for, it's impossible to catch all factors that can skew results. Lastly, the results lose some statistical power due to the small number of events (cardiac or death) that took place during the 12 months. Therefore, the researchers state that these results should be interpreted with caution and considered preliminary evidence.
Related: The #1 Food You Should Limit to Reduce Your Risk of High Blood Pressure, According to Dietitians
These results show that it doesn't take a huge shift to potentially see big changes—in this case, a reduction in cardiac events and death. While moderate-vigorous physical activity showed the greatest risk reduction, low-intensity physical activity had some pretty amazing results, too.
While it might come as no surprise that physical activity reduces heart disease risk, you might be wondering why sleep would.
'Unlike sitting, sleep promotes healthful, restorative processes that help regulate blood pressure, reduce inflammation and support heart function,' explains Keith Diaz, Ph.D., one of the study's lead authors and associate professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University. 'Sitting for hours at a time does the opposite. It increases blood pressure, can trigger chronic inflammation and contributes to poor heart health. For example, blood pressure typically drops by more than 10% during sleep. This gives your heart, blood vessels and other organs a reprieve from higher pressures that can be damaging to them.'
Current physical activity guidelines recommend getting at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity a week. Strength training is also recommended at least twice a week. Plus you want to try to fit in some stretching throughout your week.
Related: 5 Supplements You Should Take for Better Heart Health, According to Dietitians
The good news is that any amount of physical activity is better than none—and it doesn't have to be done every day. We previously reported on a study that found that 'weekend warriors' get just about as many health benefits as those who exercise over several days.
But physical activity and sleep are just a part of the heart disease puzzle. The American Heart Association promotes its Life's Essential 8 wheel for heart disease prevention and overall good health. The wheel consists of four health behaviors and four health factors. The health behaviors include eating healthy, moving your body, quitting tobacco and getting healthy sleep. The health factors include things you can measure that are influenced by the health behaviors: weight, cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar.
If you need help with what to eat, the Mediterranean diet is a great place to start. Loaded with heart-healthy foods like fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, seafood and healthy oils like olive oil, the Mediterranean diet ranks as one of the top eating patterns for heart health, along with the DASH diet, a spin-off of the Mediterranean diet that limits sodium. If you want more guidance, check out our 30-Day DASH Diet Meal Plan for Beginners or our 7-Day Mediterranean Diet Meal Plan for Heart Health.
Related: 5 Things to Do When You Wake Up to Help Lower Cholesterol, According to Experts
This study suggests that by replacing 30 minutes of sedentary time with exercise of any kind or with sleep, you may reduce your risk of having a cardiac event or dying following a visit to the hospital for chest pain. If you're currently inactive, start looking for ways to be intentional with your activity. Take the stairs, park at the far end of the parking lot and take movement breaks throughout the day. If you've got sleep issues, assess your bedtime routine and sleep environment and make appropriate changes. If you snore or are getting the proper amount of sleep but are still exhausted, consult with your healthcare practitioner, who can assess your situation and refer you to the appropriate specialists.
Read the original article on EATINGWELL
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Let's celebrate: Today is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year
Editor's note: This story was first published on June 21, 2013 Welcome to the best day of the year. Today is the summer solstice, the longest day. In North Jersey, we'll get more than 15 hours of daylight. Go ahead and gloat — that's nearly an hour and a half more daylight than Key West, Florida, will get today. For those who like daylight — pretty much everyone save Dracula — today is a day to celebrate. In past eras, they actually did. "The summer solstice was a carnivalesque feast day," said Pamela H. Smith, a European history expert at Columbia University. "In England, there were bonfires, lots of beer drinking, cannons being fired off, masqueraders — people dressed up as devils and demons. "Days like the solstice were important for ancient peoples in terms of trying to find patterns in nature that were important for their livelihood, like knowing when to plant crops. All cultures had megaliths like Stonehenge," Smith said. The Earth's orbit around the sun is slightly elliptical, but not enough to cause the seasons, said Carlton Pryor, an astronomer at Rutgers University. In fact, at the summer solstice, the North Jersey region is 94.4 million miles from the sun. At the winter solstice, it's only 91.4 million miles away. The seasons are caused by the Earth's axis being tilted at a 23.5 degree angle. When the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the sun, the hemisphere receives sunlight more directly, for longer periods, increasing temperatures. More: Make one of these 10 books that are set in New Jersey your next beach read for summer 2025 In winter, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away — even though it is closer to the sun in miles — so the light is less direct, more angled. The sun is lower in the sky and appears for fewer hours, causing cooler temperatures. On the summer solstice, the Earth's northern axis is tilted at its most extreme angle toward the sun. Today in North Jersey, the sun at its zenith will be at an angle of nearly 73 degrees above the horizon. On Dec. 21, it will be only 26 degrees above the horizon. The Earth's axis tilt also affects where the sun rises on the horizon. Conventional wisdom that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west is true only twice a year — at the spring and fall equinoxes. During the summer solstice, the sun rises at its northernmost point on the horizon. This morning in Hackensack, if you had faced due east, the sun would have risen about 32 degrees to the north (or to your left). At the winter solstice, it will rise 32 degrees to the south of due east (or to your right). Though the summer solstice once triggered celebrations, that's rarely the case anymore. After the Protestant Reformation in Europe, religious leaders started to call for an end to the celebrations. "A lot of Protestant pastors criticized midsummer night's eve, saying people were drinking too much, fighting," Smith said. Another reason we don't celebrate the solstice is the shift from an agrarian lifestyle. "We live in a more urban society, and we have colonized the night," said Sara Schechner, an expert on science history at Harvard University. "So we are not as bound to the cycles of nature in how we go about our lives." This article originally appeared on Summer solstice 2025 is here
Fox News
a day ago
- Fox News
Eating more fruits and vegetables linked to surprising effect on sleep
Your daily meal selections could influence the quality of your sleep, new research says. A study from the University of Chicago Medicine and Columbia University found that increasing your intake of fruits and vegetables could help promote more restful sleep. Previous research has shown that people who lack quality sleep may be more likely to indulge in unhealthy foods that are high in fat and sugar — and now this new finding sheds more light on how consumed foods impact sleep. In the small study — which was published in "Sleep Health: The Journal of the National Sleep Foundation" — 34 healthy young adults reported their daily food consumption and wore a tracker to measure how often they woke up or changed sleep patterns during the night, according to a press release. Those who reported eating more fruits and vegetables during the day were found to have "deeper, more uninterrupted sleep." Greater amounts of healthy carbohydrates, like whole grains, were found to have that same benefit, the study found. "Dietary modifications could be a new, natural and cost-effective approach to achieve better sleep," said co-senior author Esra Tasali, MD, director of the UChicago Sleep Center, in the release. "The temporal associations and objectively-measured outcomes in this study represent crucial steps toward filling a gap in important public health knowledge." Based on the study findings, the researchers concluded that people who eat at least five cups of fruits and veggies per day could have a 16% increase in quality of sleep compared to those who eat none of those foods. "Small changes can impact sleep. That is empowering — better rest is within your control." "16 percent is a highly significant difference," Tasali said in the release. "It's remarkable that such a meaningful change could be observed within less than 24 hours." "Based on current data, the experts confidently advise that regularly eating a diet rich in complex carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables is best for long-term sleep health," the release stated. The American Heart Association provides the following examples of fruit and veggie servings that equate to 1 cup of produce. Dr. Chelsie Rohrscheib, head sleep expert at Wesper in Michigan, said that most sleep professionals recognize that a healthy diet supports overall well-being, including sleep quality — "so the findings of this study are not entirely unexpected." "However, it's important to note that this was a relatively small study composed primarily of young adult male participants, which limits generalizability," Rohrscheib, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital. "While the results were statistically significant, the overall reduction in sleep fragmentation was modest, about 16%." The study was also observational in nature, she noted, which means it lacked the control of a randomized trial. "Ideally, future research would compare a group consuming a fruit- and vegetable-rich diet to a control group with limited intake to better establish causality," the doctor added. The researchers plan to conduct more studies to confirm that eating produce causes better sleep and to determine the "underlying mechanisms of digestion, neurology and metabolism" driving this impact, the release stated. For more Health articles, visit "People are always asking me if there are things they can eat that will help them sleep better," said co-senior author Marie-Pierre St-Onge, PhD, director of the Center of Excellence for Sleep & Circadian Research at Columbia, in the release. "Small changes can impact sleep. That is empowering — better rest is within your control."
Health Line
a day ago
- Health Line
Autophagy: What You Need to Know
Autophagy is a self-preservation mechanism in which your body removes damaged or dysfunctional parts of cells in order to regenerate newer, healthier cells. 'Auto' means self and 'phagy' means eat. So the literal meaning of autophagy is 'self-eating.' It's also known as 'self-devouring.' While that may sound like something you never want to happen to your body, it's actually beneficial to your overall health. Board-certified cardiologist Dr. Luiza Petre explains that the purpose of autophagy is to remove debris and self-regulate back to optimal smooth function. 'It is recycling and cleaning at the same time, just like hitting a reset button to your body,' she says. 'Plus, it promotes survival and adaptation as a response to various stressors and toxins accumulated in our cells.' Let's learn more about the process. What are the benefits of autophagy? The main benefits of autophagy seem to come in the form of anti-aging principles. In fact, Petre says it's best known as the body's way of turning the clock back and creating younger cells. Priya Khorana, PhD, in nutrition education from Columbia University, points out that when our cells are stressed, autophagy is increased in order to protect us, which helps enhance your lifespan. Additionally, registered dietitian, Scott Keatley, RD, CDN, says that in times of starvation, autophagy keeps the body going by breaking down cellular material and reusing it for necessary processes. 'Of course this takes energy and cannot continue forever, but it gives us more time to find nourishment,' he adds. At the cellular level, Petre says the benefits of autophagy include: removing toxic proteins from the cells that are attributed to neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease recycling residual proteins providing energy and building blocks for cells that could still benefit from repair on a larger scale, it prompts regeneration and healthy cells Autophagy is receiving a lot of attention for the role it may play in preventing or treating cancer, too. However, it's important to note that autophagy may also promote the growth of cancer. This is because it works as a survival mechanism and can make it easier for possible resistance in therapies. 'Autophagy declines as we age, so this means cells that no longer work or may do harm are allowed to multiply, which is the MO of cancer cells,' Keatley says. While all cancers start from some sort of defective cells, Petre says that the body should recognize and remove those cells, often using autophagic processes. That's why some researchers are looking at the possibility that autophagy may lower the risk of cancer. While there's no scientific evidence to back this up, Petre says some research suggests that many cancerous cells can be removed through autophagy. 'This is how the body polices the cancer villains,' she explains. 'Recognizing and destroying what went wrong and triggering the repairing mechanism does contribute to lowering the risk of cancer.' In this way, autophagy may eventually become a therapy for cancer. Diet changes that can boost autophagy Remember that autophagy literally means 'self-eating.' So, it makes sense that intermittent fasting and ketogenic diets are known to trigger autophagy. 'Fasting is [the] most effective way to trigger autophagy,' Petre says. ' Ketosis, a diet high in fat and low in carbs brings the same benefits of fasting without fasting, like a shortcut to induce the same beneficial metabolic changes,' she adds. 'By not overwhelming the body with an external load, it gives the body a break to focus on its own health and repair.' In the keto diet, you get about 75% of your daily calories from fat, and 5% to 10% of your calories from carbs. This shift in calorie sources causes your body to shift its metabolic pathways. It will begin to use fat for fuel instead of the glucose that's derived from carbohydrates. In response to this restriction, your body will begin to start producing ketone bodies that have many protective effects. Khorana says research suggests that the ketogenic diet can also cause starvation-induced autophagy, which has neuroprotective functions. 'Low glucose levels occur in both diets and are linked to low insulin and high glucagon levels,' Petre says. And glucagon level is the one that initiates autophagy. 'When the body is low on sugar through fasting or ketosis, it brings the positive stress that wakes up the survival repairing mode,' she adds. One non-diet area that may also play a role in inducing autophagy is exercise. According to a 2024 rat study, physical exercise may induce autophagy in organs that are part of metabolic regulation processes. This can include the muscles, liver, pancreas, and adipose tissue. Bottom line Autophagy will continue to gain attention as researchers conduct more studies on the impact it has on our health. For now, nutritional and health experts like Khorana point to the fact that there's still much we need to learn about autophagy and how to best encourage it. But if you're interested in trying to stimulate autophagy in your body, she recommends starting by adding fasting and regular exercise into your routine. However, you need to consult with a doctor if you: are taking any medications are pregnant or wish to become pregnant are breastfeeding
