Harvard Health Content API

It may be a mistake to urge people who are inactive to aim for 150 minutes a week of exercise, 2 new articles suggest. Rather, the authors say, the main message should be simply to sit less and move more. Health experts recommend 150 minutes of moderate activity, such as brisk walking, each week. But both new articles argue that the research shows some activity is better than none. Among older adults, only 10% to 15% get the recommended amount. And asking people to aim for 150 minutes may seem overwhelming. This may discourage people from making any changes at all, the authors say. One of the articles reviewed 6 studies on physical activity and its effects on health. It found that walking from 1 to 74 minutes a week can reduce the risk of death from any cause by 19%.

If you have epilepsy, sleeping on your stomach may increase the risk of sudden death, a new study suggests. Researchers reviewed 25 earlier studies about unexplained deaths among people with epilepsy. Such deaths are rare. The new study focused on 253 deaths with records that included the person’s position when found. The people who died had been in good health. Autopsies could not find a clear cause of death. About 73% of them died while sleeping on their stomachs. That included 86% of those under 40 and 60% of those who were older. People with epilepsy have seizures related to a disruption in the brain’s electrical activity. The study’s author told HealthDay News that it’s possible people who died had an airway obstruction and could not rouse themselves. This study was not designed to show whether sleeping chest-down actually causes sudden death.