Research
Energy balance
A minimum energy expenditure of 1,000 to 2,000 kcal per week from physical activity is necessary to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.
Aim to burn an extra 1,000 to 2,000 calories per week through exercise to protect your heart. This can be achieved through moderate activities like brisk walking, gardening, or cycling distributed across the week.
GoodConditionalHIGH confidence
spending at least 1,000 kcal additional energy per week on physical activity was necessary to reduce the risk of CHD.
Why this rating
Based on Harvard Alumni Health Study and others.
Source
Long-term health benefits of physical activity – a systematic review of longitudinal studies
Miriam Reiner et al. · BMC Public Health · 2013
DOI 10.1186/1471-2458-13-813
systematic_review · n=288724Cited 1,464×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Long-term engagement in intentional physical activity is negatively associated with the incidence of non-communicable diseases, including coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and dementia, in healthy adults.Good
- Preventing weight gain through physical activity is a key mechanism for reducing the risk of coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes, although physical activity itself provides independent protective effects beyond weight control.Good
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