Atrial fibrillation (AF)—wherein the upper chambers of the center contract weakly and rapidly—is related to an increased risk of stroke and heart failure. Although exercise has been suggested as a preventive strategy, there are insufficient data to point whether it prevents AF in women.
To shed more light on this topic, in 1997 Swedish researchers asked 40,000 women over the age of fifty how much time they'd spent exercising over their lifetime. The researchers then tracked the ladies for 12 years and noted that 2,915 (about 7%) had developed AF. They found that the chance of AF fell steadily with increasing activity. Women who exercised probably the most—greater than 4 hours per week—were 15 percent less prone to develop AF than those that exercised the least (lower than an hour per week). People who walked or biked 40 minutes or more a day had a 20 percent lower risk than those that rarely walked. The results were reported online May 27, 2015 by the British journal Heart.
This was a big observational study, not a controlled trial, so there's no guarantee that walking or biking will prevent you from developing AF, however it does suggest one other potential health advantage of exercise. .
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