No this revelation doesn't come as much of a surprise to the members of this community, but still its nice to read whenever science backs up & adds to things we've long held to be true. Like, exercise is good for your body, (including your heart). But this recent study goes so far as to quantify just how good, and the results make us want to go outside and jump right now.
New research, appearing in the European Heart Journal, suggests that lack of physical activity can drastically increase the risk of a heart attack in the long-term, even if there are no symptoms at present. Exercise that raises the heart rate, such as running, may cut heart attack risk by half, suggests a new study.Cardiorespiratory fitness describes the body's ability to deliver oxygen to the muscles when we are engaged in physical activity. Specifically, the term refers to "the efficiency of the heart, lungs and vascular system."
A significant body of research has linked cardiorespiratory fitness with a variety of positive health outcomes, ranging from preventing cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality to staving off diabetes and improving insulin resistance.
However, most of these previous studies have relied on the participants' self-reported levels of fitness.
New research uses more precise methods of measuring cardiorespiratory fitness and highlights another one of its benefits.
Higher fitness levels can halve the risk of heart attack, the new study finds. Conversely, suggest the researchers, poor fitness levels can raise future risk even in the absence of warning symptoms in the present.
Bjarne Nes, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's Cardiac Exercise Research Group in Trondheim, is the corresponding and last author of the study.
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