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EHS Today writes that “The American Heart Association recently published a study that provides further support for well-rounded employee wellness programs.”

The AHA reports that ” Spending a cumulative 2.5 hours a week doing recreational physical activity is linked with a 25 percent lower risk of coronary heart disease in women under age 50, according to new research in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation.”

Interestingly, this study focused on a younger grouping of women, as most studies have “focused on middle-aged and older adults.”

Said Andrea Chomistek, Sc.D., lead author of the study and assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington: “Our reason for carrying out this study was primarily to focus on younger women. We wanted to identify steps that young women could take to lower their incidence of coronary heart disease.”

Among women age 27-44 at the start of the study, they found:

• “women with the highest level of leisure time physical activity were at a 25 percent lower risk incidence of coronary heart disease;”
• “activity did not have to be strenuous to be beneficial, moderately intense activities such as brisk walking were associated with a lower risk of coronary heart disease;”
• “the frequency of physical activity did not affect the outcome as long as the total weekly time was at least 150 minutes; and”
• “regardless of their body weight when they began, women reduced their coronary heart disease risk by engaging in physical activity.”

For tips on how to introduce more walking and other exercise into the workplace, see our pieces here and here. The AHA provides more information about walking and cardiovascular disease here: