Reacción a "The recommendation of 150 minutes of exercise per week should be higher for greater cardiovascular protection, according to a study"

The article is very interesting and of high quality, though this does not mean that its findings can be directly applied to the Spanish population of people in their fifties. The sample is a highly selected group that includes individuals who are undoubtedly fitter than most people of their age. Given that they are fitter, I would venture to say that they undoubtedly have healthier lifestyle habits as well.

In summary, and greatly simplifying the results, the conclusions I draw for my clinical practice would be as follows:

1. The recommendation of 150 minutes of vigorous exercise per week remains highly valid for the general population, and I wish we could all meet it. This would surely reduce cardiovascular problems by more than 10% (this study mentions a reduction of 8–9%, but given the bias we discussed earlier, it is very likely that they are underestimating the benefit).
2. Doing more exercise (and reaching 10 hours a week) is likely to be more beneficial in a population that is already physically fit.
3. Doing more exercise is likely to improve the elasticity (and positive remodelling) of both the heart and the major arteries. This would justify an even greater improvement in the prevention of cardiovascular problems and, above all, heart failure. Heart failure, despite apparently good ventricular contraction, is one of the main heart problems, and one of the proposed causes is the ‘stiffness’ of the heart due, amongst other things, to a lack of exercise. I believe this article supports the hypothesis that, by doing more exercise, you keep the heart more ‘elastic’ and reduce the likelihood of developing heart failure.”