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You'd have to have lived in a cave the past 10 or 20 years not to know that exercise, especially aerobic activity, is good for your heart. Numerous studies have shown an inverse relationship between working out and the risk of heart disease. Yet few investigations have provided details on how to maximize those benefits.

Does slow and steady win the race, or should you pick up the pace? Will lifting weights hone your heart muscles as much as your biceps? The answers are now emerging.

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health looked at a cohort of 44,452 American men over a 12-year period to assess the potential risk of coronary heart disease against levels of leisure-time exertion; the stats were adjusted for age, smoking and other risk factors.

Not surprisingly, running, rowing, walking and weight training each helped build healthy hearts. Men who ran for an hour or more per week (at 6 mph) were 42 percent less likely to develop heart disease than nonrunners, while those who devoted the same amount of time to rowing had an 18 percent decrease. A daily walk (at 3 mph) lasting 30 minutes was also associated with a risk abatement of 18 percent.

# posted by Medical Information : 1:19 AM