The American Heart Association (AHA) is now encouraging doctors to go beyond pills and start prescribing exercise to patients with slightly high blood pressure or cholesterol.
This new advice could help millions of Americans improve their heart health simply by becoming more active.
About 53 million adults in the U.S. have slightly elevated blood pressure. This means their top number (systolic) is between 120 and 139 mmHg, or their bottom number (diastolic) is between 80 and 89 mmHg. Another 71 million have mildly high cholesterol, with LDL—or “bad”—cholesterol above 70 mg/dL.
Right now, the official advice for these people is to make healthy lifestyle changes. These include moving more, eating better, quitting smoking, and drinking less alcohol.
The new recommendation from the AHA highlights that doctors should talk with patients about exercise at every visit. They should help them find fun ways to stay active and connect them to helpful resources like health coaches or local fitness programs.
Why is this important? Because regular exercise really works. Studies show that it can lower blood pressure by 3 to 4 mmHg and reduce LDL cholesterol by 3 to 6 mg/dL. Even more impressive, people who are physically active have a 21% lower chance of getting heart disease and are 36% less likely to die from heart-related problems.
So how much exercise is enough? Experts say adults should get 150 minutes of moderate activity—like brisk walking—each week, or 75 minutes of more intense exercise, like running.
They also recommend doing strength training exercises at least twice a week. But the good news is that even a small increase in activity helps. Just five to ten extra minutes of movement each day can make a real difference.
In summary, the AHA’s push for doctors to prescribe exercise is a powerful step toward preventing heart disease before it starts. By helping patients become more active, doctors can improve lives and reduce the risk of serious health problems across the country.
If you care about heart health, please read studies that Changing blood pressure readings is a hidden sign of heart disease and common type 2 diabetes drugs may raise heart risk.
For more about heart health, please read studies about root cause of heart rhythm disorders and Warning signal from the kidneys can predict future heart failure risk.
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