Men unable to complete ten push-ups risk heart disease: Study

LONDON: A recent study has found that men who are unable to complete ten push-ups are at a higher risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.

A team at Harvard University has revealed that the middle-aged men who are being able to do more than 40 push-ups were associated with a 97 percent reduction in risk of cardiovascular disease over the next 10 years.

Moreover, it has been found that people who are able to complete between 21 and 30 push-ups, they had around a quarter of the risk conditions such as coronary artery disease or heart failure, as compared to the ones who could not even manage to do ten push-ups.

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.

The study writers 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.

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. However, 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 percent.

According to the study, firefighters, who are physically fit, have a lower chance of suffering from cardiovascular disease in the future. Staying fit, no matter what the age is, is extremely important to reduce the risk.