According to a new study by researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, active, middle-aged men who can do 40 push-ups in a row have a significantly lower risk of future cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the decade following a baseline physical exam than age-matched peers who can do fewer than 10 push-ups.
Cardiovascular disease is an umbrella term that for the most part alludes to narrowed or blocked blood vessels that can prompt chest torment, angina, arrhythmia, or other cardiovascular occasions, for example, a heart assault, sudden heart failure, or stroke.
First author Justin Yang, occupational medicine resident in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health said, “Our findings provide evidence that pushup capacity could be an easy, no-cost method to help assess cardiovascular disease risk in almost any setting. Surprisingly, pushup capacity was more strongly associated with cardiovascular disease risk than the results of submaximal treadmill tests.”
For the study, scientists analyzed the health date of 1,104 active male firefighters. Push-up capacity data was collected from 2000 to 2010. The average age of participants was 39.6, but their ages ranged from 21-66.
Every firefighter’s push-up limit and his submaximal treadmill exercise tolerance were estimated toward the start of the investigation and each ensuing year amid yearly physical examinations.
The analysts accentuate that the number of inhabitants in this investigation comprised exclusively of occupationally active men. Hence, the outcomes may not be generalizable to men or ladies who are less active consistently.
Senior author Stefanos Kales, who is a professor in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard Chan School said, “This study emphasizes the importance of physical fitness on health, and why clinicians should assess fitness during clinical encounters.”
Amid the 10-year think about a period, 37 CVD-related results were accounted for. Everything except one happened in men who finished 40 or fewer pushups amid the gauge test. The analysts determined that men ready to accomplish in excess of 40 pushups had a 96 percent diminished danger of CVD occasions contrasted with the individuals who were capable of doing less than 10 pushups.
The push-up limit was all the more unequivocally connected with a lower rate of cardiovascular ailment occasions than was a high-impact limit as assessed by a submaximal treadmill exercise test.
Authors noted, “Because the study population consisted of middle-aged, occupationally active men, the results may not be generalizable to women or to men of other ages or who are less active.”
These findings were published February 15 in JAMA Network Open.