Health Claims

Doing a moderate to intense workout for about 262 minutes a week is the sweet spot for protecting your heart — going more than that doesn’t help any more.

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People with higher insulin resistance—measured by a specific blood test—are much more likely to have heart problems or die from any cause, even if they’ve never had heart disease before.

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If you're an adult without heart disease and you get 150 to 300 minutes of brisk exercise each week, you're less likely to die from any cause — especially if your body has trouble processing sugar. This amount of activity might help reduce the danger that comes with metabolic issues.

Correlational

The usual advice to exercise a certain amount each week might not be the best for people with serious heart problems — they might need a different plan.

Descriptive

If you swap some of your sitting time for activities like brisk walking or jogging, you might give your heart a bigger boost—especially if you're already at higher risk for heart problems.

Correlational

If you're at high risk for heart problems, doing more than an hour of intense exercise a week might not help your heart as much as doing less — it could even be less beneficial.

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If you're at very high risk for heart problems, doing just 42 minutes of intense exercise a week seems to give you the best heart health boost — doing more might not help as much and could even reduce the benefits.

Correlational

People who move more—especially those who do brisk walking, running, or other intense activities—tend to have fewer heart problems, and this benefit is even stronger for people who are already at high risk for heart disease.

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People who sleep between 6 and 9 hours a night seem to have the lowest risk of heart problems in the next 10 years — those who sleep less or more than that have higher risk, at least in Hispanic/Latino adults.

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People who sleep too little or too much are more likely to die sooner, even if they don’t have severe sleep apnea — which suggests that how long you sleep might be harmful all on its own.

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People who say they sleep either too little (6 hours or less) or too much (9 hours or more) tend to have a higher chance of having a heart problem in the next 10 years, compared to those who sleep between 6 and 9 hours — at least in this group of Hispanic/Latino patients.

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People in this group who say they sleep 9 hours or more each night are nearly four times more likely to die from any cause than those who sleep 6 to 9 hours, even when you account for heart problems and sleep apnea.

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People in this group who say they sleep 6 hours or less each night are more than twice as likely to die from any cause compared to those who sleep 6 to 9 hours—even if they have heart problems or sleep apnea.

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People who say they sleep too little or too much are more likely to die from heart problems, but only those who actually sleep too little (measured by devices) show a clear link—so sleeping a lot might just mean you’re sick or your sleep is bad, not that you’re sleeping too much.

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People who sleep more, as measured by devices, tend to live longer and have fewer heart-related deaths—even those who sleep more than 8 hours don’t seem to be at higher risk.

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People often think they slept more or less than they actually did, so when they fill out sleep surveys, their answers don’t match what machines measure — making those surveys less trustworthy for big health studies.

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People who sleep too little (4 hours or less) or too much (more than 8 hours) tend to have a higher risk of dying from any cause or heart disease, while those who sleep 7 to 8 hours have the lowest risk—this might mean that how long you think you slept is more about your health problems or poor sleep quality than how well you actually rested.

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People who sleep 5 hours or less each night are more likely to die sooner from any cause or from heart problems than those who sleep 7 to 8 hours, according to sleep measurements taken in labs.

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If you have signs of heart artery buildup, living healthier and staying mentally well can lower your chance of dying or having a heart problem — and the more healthy habits you have, the better off you are, with each new habit cutting your risk by about 11%.

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For people with already high calcium buildup in their heart arteries, having higher levels of 'good' cholesterol seems to lower their chance of having a heart attack or stroke—but it doesn’t seem to help them live longer.

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If you have plaque in your heart arteries but your blood sugar is normal, you’re less likely to die early and live longer — but it doesn’t seem to stop heart attacks. So keeping your blood sugar in check might help you live longer, even if it doesn’t prevent heart problems.

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If you're an adult with early signs of heart disease but no symptoms yet, being very active can help you live longer and avoid heart problems — studies suggest it might delay death by over 30%.

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If you have signs of heart artery buildup but aren’t under much stress, you’re less likely to die soon or have a heart attack or stroke—and it might happen later in life. Managing stress could help your heart stay healthier longer.

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If you’re an adult with early signs of heart artery damage but don’t smoke, you’re much less likely to die or have a heart attack or stroke compared to smokers—even if your heart is already showing damage. Quitting smoking might still help you live longer and healthier, even at this stage.

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