Hisham Sarwar
Cardiovascular diseases rank as the major cause of death worldwide and while it is understood by everyone that even a moderate exercise can lower the risk of heart diseases, diagnosing that risk has often involved numerous expensive clinical tests.
But now, scientists have found what they think could be a simple, practical test to predict a person’s heart health i.e. just by doing ten push-ups. In just less than ten minutes, you can gauge your risk of heart disease or a cardiac event by doing this push-up exercise. A team at Harvard University has revealed that the middle-aged men who are unable to complete ten push-ups are at a higher risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.
“Participants able to perform 11 or more push-ups at baseline had significantly reduced risk of subsequent cardiovascular disease events,” the study authors wrote in journal JAMA Network Open.
Individuals who are able to do more than 40 push-ups are associated with a 97 per cent reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease over the next ten years. Moreover, it was found that people who were able to complete between 21 and 30 push-ups, they had around a quarter of the risk conditions such coronary artery disease or heart failure, as compared to the ones who could not even manage to do ten push-ups. The study authors stated that the participants who were able to perform eleven or even more push-ups were at the baseline and as subsequently low risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.
The report further states that the findings provide evidence that the push-up capacity can be easy and free of cost method to assess the risks related to cardiovascular disease in any kind of settings. For the study, more than 1,000 firemen in the U.S. state of Indiana, who were enrolled between 2000 and 2007, were observed. All the men had an average age of 39.6 years but this ranged from 21 to 66 years old.
The group had an average body-mass index BMI of 28.7 in the overweight range but they were all active. A link was found between doing more push-ups and longer-term health. But as there were a low number of heart conditions in some of the push-ups groups, the scientists were less confident in their findings that being able to do 11 to 20 pushups can reduce the risk by 64 per cent.
According to Professor Jeremy Pearson, the associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation stated that it has been revealed that the firefighters, who are physically fit, have a lower chance of suffering of cardiovascular disease in future. Staying fit, no matter what the age is, is extremely important to reduce the risk.
“The narrowing of our arteries with fatty substances, which can eventually lead to heart attacks and strokes, starts early, often in our 20s and 30s. Keeping fit, no matter your age, is an important way to reduce your risk.”
The Article originally appeared on The Independent website.
