HHS HealthBeat (May 29, 2006)

Exercise and living

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Aerobics makes the circulatory system work better. However, very rarely, sudden bursts of exercise are followed by sudden death – cardiac arrest, when the heart stops.

Should people be scared about that?

Christine Albert of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston examined data on almost 85,000 middle-aged women. She found only nine deaths during moderate to vigorous exercise.

"So even though it's something that gathers a lot of attention when it happens, the risk is actually very, very low." (six seconds)

It happens somewhat more often in men. In either sex, Albert says the way for beginners to reduce the risk is to ease into exercise – and then do it regularly, because this lowers the risk of cardiac arrest.

The National Institutes of Health supported the study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Learn more at www.hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: May 7, 2011