[Preventing coronary heart disease by physical activity. How much exercise is necessary?]

The value of general measures, in particular physical exercise, for the prevention of cardiac disease has been unequivocally demonstrated. Meta-analyses done to investigate the preventive character of exercise have shown that the coronary risk of physically active persons is lower by a factor of 2 to 3. This reduction in risk is independent of the presence of other risk factors, and is not due to the better health awareness of those who are physically active. However, the amount or intensity of such training actually required remains uncertain. A number of studies report a protective effect only for intensive physical effort, while others claim a risk reduction independent of training intensity. In the last resort, however, any form of exercise is better than none at all, when it comes to lowering the coronary risk. Not only endurance sports, but also other types of sport, such as tennis, or daily activities, can be recommended.