When Heart Disease Runs in the Family, Exercise Tied to Lower Risk

Despite the best modern medicine can offer, the simplest, easiest, and most effective way to stay healthy is to exercise. Medical research continues to reinforce this finding, but a new study out of the United Kingdom tracked over half a million people and crunched the data in a very large burst of proof. When study participants were indexed for factors like level of physical activity, how strong their grip strength was, or measurable cardiovascular health, their chances of a cardiovascular incident such as stroke or heart attack was considerably lower. This was true even when a history of cardiovascular disease or previous cardiovascular incidents runs in that person’s family.

A genetic disposition toward heart problems can be overcome simply by staying fit and exercising, as can the existence of other risk factors such as diabetes or weight problems, or even age and gender. People who are physically active can half their chances of heart disease simply by exercising regularly. This finding held for all participants, none of which suffered from heart disease prior to entering the study. All were at least forty years old, and ranged up to their late sixties. Over the course of the study, as some of them suffered from cardiac incidents, the data was correlated to offer some very strong proof of what doctors have been saying for decades.

Exercise more and you’ll see the inside of the hospital less.

Key Points:

  • 1Around 500,000 people in the UK had a lower risk of heart disease due to physical activity even when it runs in the family.
  • 2A strong grip makes you 36% less likely to develop coronary heart disease.
  • 3Regular exercise can lead to a healthy weight, which lowers your risk for hypertension and diabetes.


And among people with a high genetic risk for cardiovascular diseases, those with the best cardiorespiratory fitness had a 49 percent lower risk of coronary heart disease compared to participants with the poorest cardiorespiratory fitness.
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Written by HealthStatus
Medical Writer & Editor

HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our health risk assessment, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years.

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