Men who can do 40 push-ups and more have a lower risk of heart disease, study reveals
| Updated: Feb 18, 2019, 11:37 IST
How many push-ups can you do? Turns out, the number of push-ups a man can do may work as an indicator of how his heart health is. Researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health conducted the study wherein they compared the heart health of male firefighters over a time period of ten years. It was found that men who could do 40 push-ups and more were 96 percent less likely to develop heart conditions as compared to men who couldn't do more than 10 push-ups.
“Our findings provide evidence that push-up capacity could be an easy, no-cost method to help assess cardiovascular disease risk in almost any setting,” study author Justin Yang said in a statement. “Surprisingly, push-up capacity was more strongly associated with cardiovascular disease risk than the results of submaximal treadmill tests.” The men had an average age of 40 years and an average body mass index (BMI) of 28.7 at the start of the study. They were asked to do push-ups and were timed accordingly.
Over the ten years, the participants were asked to record their health in surveys. It was found that those with high push-up capabilities had significantly lower risks of heart conditions as compared to those with low push-up capabilities. Researchers now hope that they can set this method of push-ups as an early detection test for men and now also hope to conduct the test on other groups like women and older people. Stay tuned for more updates.
“Our findings provide evidence that push-up capacity could be an easy, no-cost method to help assess cardiovascular disease risk in almost any setting,” study author Justin Yang said in a statement. “Surprisingly, push-up capacity was more strongly associated with cardiovascular disease risk than the results of submaximal treadmill tests.” The men had an average age of 40 years and an average body mass index (BMI) of 28.7 at the start of the study. They were asked to do push-ups and were timed accordingly.
Over the ten years, the participants were asked to record their health in surveys. It was found that those with high push-up capabilities had significantly lower risks of heart conditions as compared to those with low push-up capabilities. Researchers now hope that they can set this method of push-ups as an early detection test for men and now also hope to conduct the test on other groups like women and older people. Stay tuned for more updates.