Physical inactivity is a separate risk factor from being overweight or having diabetes, though it is certainly involved with those issues. You could be thin and still at risk for heart disease.

Exercise just makes sense. It is going to lower your stress levels, improve your strength, strengthen your cardiovascular system, and probably help you lose weight and control your blood pressure and diabetes.

Everyone knows they should exercise. It’s the starting that’s the hardest part. Don’t be overwhelmed: you need just two-and-a-half hours a week to lower your risk of heart disease. That’s just 21 minutes a day. You can even break that up into two 10-minute increments and still get the risk-management benefits.

I’m positive that exercise saved my life — both in surviving my first heart attack (without permanent damage!) and in signalling the second one before it happened. Get moving.

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