Benefits of doing push-ups everyday: Push-up capacity may indicate cardiovascular disease risk in men
New Delhi: A healthy lifestyle - such as being physically active and fit- reduces your risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events, including heart attacks and developing coronary artery disease. Yet, a new study suggests that the number of push-ups a man can do may be an indicator of his risk for heart disease.
The study by the researchers at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health found that men who could do more than 40 push-ups had a reduced risk of developing cardiovascular problems over the next 10 years. For the research, the researchers followed more than 1,100 middle-aged male firefighters over a decade.
Push-ups and heart health: What the research says
The findings, published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open, showed that men who could do more than 40 push-ups during a timed test at a preliminary examination were 96 per cent less likely to have developed a cardiovascular problem compared to those who could do no 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,” said occupational medicine resident Justin Yang from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. “Surprisingly, push-up capacity was more strongly associated with cardiovascular disease risk than the results of submaximal treadmill tests.”
The study also found that participants who were able to perform 11 or more push-ups showed a reduced risk of subsequent heart health problems. The study authors, however, said that more research is required before the findings can be generalised to other groups, like women, older people and those who are less active.
Benefits of doing push-ups
Doing push-ups everyday can help you build strength and develop a toned upper body and core. Push-ups are a great form of exercise that works the triceps, pectoral muscles, and shoulders. They can help you burn a lot of calories because when you do a push-up so many muscles are involved in the exercise, helping you torch more fats than many other exercises that only involve one or two muscle groups. The exercise can also improve your posture and promote testosterone production, which is essential for a healthy body in both men and women.
Push-ups are effective and can be done from virtually anywhere, anytime and don’t need any equipment.