"Show me how many push-ups you can do, and I will tell you how healthy you are," so the doctor can make a diagnosis. A long-term study by Harvard University shows a connection between the ability to push ups and the risk of developing heart disease. Doctors of the study believe that this is a free but reliable method for determining the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Harvard long-term study completed: what are the findings?
Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health recently completed a long-term study. In middle-aged men, a reliable conclusion about heart health can be made by determining the number of push-ups. The results of the study were published in the journal JAMA NetworkOpen.
Harvard researchers have published health data for over 1,100 male participants collected over 10 years. Men had an average age of 39.6 years and a BMI of 28.7 points. All subjects were to show at the beginning of the study how many push-ups they are able to do.
Maximum physical activity was also measured on the treadmill. After that, participants had to undergo an annual physical examination for ten years and regularly fill out a health questionnaire.
Surprisingly, the ability to push up was more associated with the risk of heart disease than the results of a treadmill. Researchers conclude that push-ups are a simple and free way to quickly and easily assess the risk of heart disease.
What does the number of push ups say?
According to the study, men who do more than 45 push-ups in one session are less likely to die from a heart attack.
Men who performed less than ten push-ups had a higher risk of heart disease.
Objective assessments of physical fitness are considered strong predictors of health. However, most methods are too expensive and time consuming to be used in a routine study.
Current research shows that there is a direct correlation between the number of push-ups and the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
Since all study participants were working middle-aged men, the results may not be transmitted to women or men of other ages. Also, scientists did not evaluate people who practically did not engage in physical activity.
How to test yourself?
Just an exercise everyone can do at home. Before exploring your own abilities, it is not recommended to eat food and drink plenty of fluids. It is also necessary to exclude physical activity 12 hours before the proposed test. If all the conditions are met, you can proceed with the exercises.
Take the correct position and push up so that your nose touches the floor. It is forbidden to touch the knees to the floor. If it turns out to perform at least 50 push-ups at a time - this is an excellent indicator. According to the study, such a number of push-ups indicates a good fitness of the cardiovascular system.
If the number of push-ups is less than 45, this is a sign of poor health. In this case, doctors recommend increasing the number of weekly exertion, since the risk of mortality is significantly increased.
With poor physical strength and endurance without obesity and other factors, it is recommended to consult a doctor. Sometimes the cause of weakness can be diseases of the endocrine system, heart and blood vessels.
Self-diagnosis is strictly prohibited. The final diagnosis is made by the attending physician, who on the basis of comprehensive examinations assesses the patient's condition.
Diagnostics requires extensive knowledge of medical science, without which it is impossible to correctly interpret the results.
Harvard scientists emphasize that push-ups are much better than any tests on the treadmill speak about the state of human health. In the near future, doctors will introduce a new method into clinical practice, which will be financially much less costly.
