Exercise Longer: It’s Good For Your Heart

*Exercise is good

 GET up and exercise longer, that’s the advice from the new Australian National Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines. They recommend doubling exercise time to five hours a week.

And for the first time the guidelines have underlined the serious health risks of sitting for too long.

Tasmanian Heart Foundation chief Graeme Lynch said it was the first time the guidelines had included recommendations to limit sedentary behaviour.

“Getting enough physical activity [including an hour a day for children] is just as important as reducing high blood pressure and blood cholesterol and quitting smoking.

``Sticking to these guidelines can reduce your risk of heart disease by 35 to 50 per cent. It’s no good going for a run at 6am then sitting for eight hours, that just increases your risk.”`Sitting for hours at work, watching too mGuch TV and wiling away hours on the internet are undermining efforts to combat heart disease. He said all Tasmanians should be active for at least 150 minutes per week but what they do in the other 23 hours is still vital.

Mr Lynch said despite the lure of the great outdoors, Tasmanians are the least physically active in the country with close to 70 per cent of adults not doing enough physical activity.

Australia’s Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines are published on www.health.gov.au

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