When it comes to the benefits of exercise, you’re basically dealing with an embarrassingly huge pile of riches. There’s the fact that it helps you stay slim, the fact that it helps you stay sane… the list goes on. The latest addition? It could also lower your risk of heart failure by 46 percent, according to a new study by the American Heart Association.
The study began in 1997 when Swedish researchers analyzed 39,805 people, aged 20-90 years old, who did not have heart failure. Since then, the researchers have been tracking their fitness levels over time via questionnaires about their lifestyle, physical activity, smoking and alcohol habits, and medication usage. Then they compared those numbers at the end of the study to see how they related to their risk of developing heart failure.