Small daily habit shifts cut heart‑attack risk by ~10%
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- Researchers from Australia, Chile and Brazil examined data on more than 53,000 middle‑aged UK adults participating in the Biobank study.
- The study found that adding 11 minutes of sleep, 4.5 minutes of brisk walking and 50 g of vegetables each day could cut the risk of major cardiovascular events by about 10 %.
- Behavioural changes were described by the team as “achievable and sustainable” compared with larger lifestyle overhauls.
- Wearable data from smartwatches provided objective measures of sleep duration and exercise intensity, while participants self‑reported their dietary habits.
- European Journal of Preventive Cardiology published the findings, highlighting the potential public‑health impact of small, scalable habit adjustments.
Why it matters: Adults who adopt just a few extra minutes of sleep, brief brisk walks and modest vegetable intake can lower their heart‑attack and stroke risk by roughly ten percent, offering a low‑cost, scalable strategy for public‑health officials to curb cardiovascular disease without demanding drastic lifestyle overhauls.
