It’s time to work up a sweat.

More women are not getting enough exercise. For that matter, most men don’t either, but women over the age of 40 are the fastest growing group of people not doing enough exercise.

A study by John Hopkins Medicine reviewed data of 19 million American women and found that 60% of women aged 40-64 did not get the minimum amount of recommended exercise. This is up from 53% of women not getting enough exercise only a decade ago.

The researchers wanted to know if women with heart disease were doing enough exercise to maintain cardiac health and prevent disability due to poor heart health.

According to this study, they are not. In fact, whether the women had heart disease or not, they were not doing enough exercise.

There are many reasons to meet the minimum exercise recommendations. 150 minutes a week of aerobic exercise, about 20 minutes a day, along with two strength training sessions per week. There are even more reasons to do more than the recommended minimum amount if you have heart disease.

Here are three:

1. Women with heart disease meeting the exercise guidelines reduce health care costs by 30%.

2. Exercise reduces your chances of developing cardiovascular disease.

3. Exercise provides secondary protection for those already diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. This means that people with cardiovascular disease were healthier and less likely to suffer more complications or another event.

And one more.

If you eat the Standard American/Canadian Diet you already have heart disease.

Almost everyone over the age of 30 has signs of atherosclerosis, hardening of the arteries due to lifestyle habits.

More is better.

Like dietary guidelines, the exercise guidelines are not enough. The guidelines give us what the experts in government believe that we will do, not what will make the biggest difference to our health.

Here are three reasons to do more:

Researchers reviewing data of almost 1 million adults found that 150 minutes a week when compared with no activity, reduced mortality risk by 19%, BUT when compared to doing 7 hours a week of moderate activity with no activity, the risk was reduced by 24%. This is the equivalent of walking an hour every day.

In a joint study of Swedish and American researchers of 660,000 adults aged 21 – 98, they found that those doing 3-5 times the recommended amount (60 – 105 minutes a day) were 39% less likely to die during the 10-year study.

More can be harder. If you don’t have enough time to do more exercise, vigorous exercise also provides increased health benefits. In an Australian study of more than 200,000 adults, found that increasing the intensity of your workout reduces your risk of disease by 9-13%.

“The benefits of vigorous activity applied to men and women of all ages, and were independent of the total amount of time spent being active. The results indicate that whether or not you are obese, and whether or not you have heart disease or diabetes, if you can manage some vigorous activity it could offer significant benefits for longevity.”

Lead author Dr Klaus Gebel, James Cook University’s Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention

The best news from all these studies? If you are currently not doing enough exercise you will get the biggest benefit from increasing your activity levels.

Don’t wait for a health scare to start exercising. Start now and do as much as you can. Every minute adds up.

Change your mind, change your health

Shayla