While your jogging on that treadmill, add another ten minutes to the session rather than five times the incline, and then pick up an October 2005 copy of CHEST.

The Cardiopulmonary and Critical Care Journal is reporting the results of new research done at Duke University's Medical Center in Durham, New Carolina, which speaks to the significance of how much you exercise rather than how hard you workout.

Duke's Brian D. Duscha, who was involved in the recent healthy heart exercise study, said:

People only need to walk up to 12 miles per week or for about 125 to 200 minutes per week to improve their heart health.

If you increase either your mileage or intensity, by going up an incline or jogging, you will achieve even greater gains.

People need to know: even without losing weight, you are getting significant benefits by exercising -- you're improving your fitness level, decreasing fat and increasing muscle and improving your lipid panel -- so don't stop exercising.

The other thing to realize is that people gain 3 to 4 pounds a year, so exercise is really important for weight maintenance.

To better understand the effects of different amounts of exercise on aerobic fitness, Duscha and colleagues randomly assigned 133 overweight, sedentary, non-smoking men and women (ages 40 - 65 years) showing signs of rising cholesterol levels to 7 to 9 months of no exercise; low amount/moderate intensity exercise (the 12-miles per week walkers); low amount/vigorous intensity (12 miles of jogging per week); or high amount/vigorous intensity (20 miles of jogging per week).

Those involved in the study did not change their diet during the study.

Each time the 133 completed their exercise assignment, all of them had improvements in peak oxygen consumption and time to exhaustion -- two established markers of fitness - compared with levels at the beginning of the study.

Surprisingly, those who worked-out more intensely did not become any more "fit" than those who exercised with a moderate intensity.

Duscha said:

The moderate intensity group only exercised to 40 or 50 percent of their max.

That's walking briskly up a hill or walking fast -- you could walk around the neighborhood after dinner and get that in.

You don't have to go jog, climb on the stairmaster or elliptical trainer and kill yourself.

Duscha and colleagues concluded, "it is appropriate to recommend mild exercise to improve fitness and reduce cardiovascular risk, yet encourage higher intensities and amounts for additional benefits."

He added:

If you distill our results down, the public health message is: You only need to walk briskly for 12 miles per week or for approximately 125 to 200 minutes per week to improve your health.

This sheds more light on the question, 'What is the minimum amount of exercise I need to do to get a health benefit?'

About CHEST

The Cardiopulmonary and Critical Care Journal is the official publication of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP). Each month it features cutting edge clinical investigations in the multidisciplinary specialties of chest medicine, such as pulmonology, cardiology, thoracic surgery, transplantation, sleep and breathing, airways disease, and more. CHEST also features basic science, special reports, case reports, board review questions, and more. Editorials and communications to the editor explore controversial issues and encourage further discussion by physicians dealing with chest medicine. More than 21,000 readers worldwide turn to CHEST each month to keep up-to-date on the latest in chest-related medicine.

The publication is available online each month.

For further information about this study, please go to:

The next CHEST Conference will take place in Montreal from October 29 - November 3, 2005.

ACCP represents 16,500 members who provide clinical respiratory, sleep, critical care, and cardiothoracic patient care in the United States and throughout the world.

The ACCP's mission is to promote the prevention and treatment of diseases of the chest through leadership, education, research, and communication.

To kick it into gear, consider the Omron Wellness Kit: Pedometer, Body Fat Tracker and Heart Rate Monitor or simply the HJ112 Premium Pedometer.

Inspire & Be Inspired.

Here's to healthy, adventuresome, soulful, "Duscha wanna go for a brisk walk?" living!

~ Jennifer Carolyn King, Rugged Elegance, LLC