Heart patients benefit from staying active: Montreal study

"Any level of leisure time physical activity appears to curb the risk of death among men and women with coronary heart disease, researchers report. People with heart disease frequently limit their physical activity due to shortness of breath, chronic fatigue, circulation problems in the legs, or other symptoms of the disease. However, men and women with coronary heart disease should "do whatever they can to avoid being sedentary," Dr. Anil Nigam told Reuters Health. Nigam, of Montreal Heart Institute in Quebec, Canada and colleagues evaluated leisure time physical activity among 14,021 generally middle-aged men and women with heart disease who had artery-clearing procedures between 1974 and 1979. After following these individuals for an average of 14.7 years, the investigators found that decreasing leisure time physical activity levels correlated with increasing death rates". Full article from American Journal of Cardiology, August 2008. Canada.com