Women’s Health Initiative. The participants were 50–79 years of age at the start of the studies.The results suggest that regardless of overall levels of physical activity, walking more and being less sedentary can benefit cardiovascular health.“Sit less, walk more for heart health,” advises Michael LaMonte, Ph.D., research associate professor of epidemiology at the SPHHP.LaMonte was the senior author on the paper that linked walking to a reduced risk of hypertension and first author on the paper that found an association between sedentary behavior and an increased risk of heart failure.The walking research followed 83,435 females who did not have a diagnosis of hypertension, heart failure, coronary heart disease, or stroke at the start of.