The movement you get in everyday life is called incidental exercise and this can play an important role in weight management, but new research out of the United States indicates that it can also be beneficial for your heart’s health, in fact the study found that those men who were moderately active at work were 10% less likely to develop heart failure while moderately active women were 20% less likely to develop heart failure.

Not surprisingly, the study also found that those who were physical activity at work, in combination to active leisure time had even greater heart health.

Results of the study were published in the September 28^th 2010 edition of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The research team reviewed data from two large groups of Finnish men and women. Just over 28,000 men and 29,874 women.

Activity levels are work were classified as "low" activity (e.g. Office work, or any job where you're sitting most of the day),  "Moderate" activity (e.g. Jobs that required a lot of standing and walking, such as a waitressing) or "High" levels of activity (e.g. Jobs with heavy manual labor that included walking and lifting in industrial or farm jobs).

Commuting activity was also divided into three categories: "low" meant no walking or cycling, "moderate" included up to 29 minutes of walking or cycling to get to work, and "high" was walking or bicycling more than 30 minutes daily to commute to work.

For leisure activity, the study defined "low" activity as almost completely inactive, such as reading or watching TV. "Moderate" included some physical activity for more than four hours a week, such as walking, biking, or gardening, but did not include commuting activity. "High" leisure activity included vigorous physical activity, such as running, jogging, swimming, heavy gardening or competitive sports, for more than three hours a week.

After an average 18.4 year follow-up, the researchers found that heart failure developed in 1,868 men and 1,640 women.

After adjusting for known risk factors such as age, smoking, body mass index, blood pressure, cholesterol and more, the researchers found that physical activity was protective against heart disease.

Physical activity during leisure time tended to provide the most benefit. In men, moderate activity during leisure time reduced the risk of heart failure by 17% and high levels of leisure-time activity dropped the risk by 35%. In women, the risk reductions were 16 and 25% respectively.

Physical activity during work was also protective. In men, moderate activity reduced the risk of heart failure by 10 percent, while high physical activity during work reduced the risk by 17 percent. In women, moderate activity reduced the risk of heart failure by 20 percent.

They also found that any two activities combined reduced the risk of heart failure even more.

This study confirms the message -- the more activity the better and it doesn't matter where it comes from. When you’re thinking about increasing your level of physical activity don’t always think about what you do out of work hours, simply walking up a flight of stairs, getting off the bus a stop early and walking to work or walking over to a colleague to chat (rather than sending an email), all adds up and all makes a difference.

Reference: September 28^th 2010 Journal of the American College of Cardiology