The American Heart Association has recently published some new research that may help us all to understand and better reach some simple goals related to heart health.

Just one healthy behavior cuts risk for heart failure.

You only need to take one first step toward better health to dramatically lower your risk of heart failure, researchers say.

A new study says heart failure risk for women who did that dropped 47%, and men who made one change lowered their risk 32%. Every additional healthy habit cut risk even more, researchers found.

Heart failure affects about 5.7 million Americans. At age 40, a person’s lifetime risk of developing heart failure is one in five.

Got a couple of hours?

Two and a half hours of moderate-intensity physical activity per week can lower the overall risk of heart disease by 14 percent.

That’s according to the first study to measure the amount of physical activity linked to lower heart disease risk. The study also says that some physical activity is better than none, and that more activity brings greater heart benefits.

So let’s get moving!

For more information about heart health visit Heart.org or speak with your physician.