Exercise especially good for workaholics

WE KNOW that one of the best ways to reduce our risk of having a heart attack or stroke is to do plenty of aerobic exercise ( walking, swimming, wcycling) and strengthbuilding exercises, such as squats. These can help by lowering blood pressure, for instance — but they also have a big impact on stress, which is important.

At university I remember doing a personality test which showed I’m a Type A — this means I’m an impatient, driven, high-achieving workaholic. I was also told that stressed-out Type As have a greater risk of dying from heart disease, so it would be a good idea to slow down and smell the flowers. Now new research suggests it’s stressed-out Type As who might benefit most from being more active. In a study published this month in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers analysed data from more than 50,000 people over a ten-year period. This showed that people who did at least 150 minutes of moderately vigorous exercise a week had a 23 per cent lower risk of developing heart disease than those who didn’t.

But the researchers also found that the people whose brain tests showed they were highly stressed got twice the benefit from doing exercise as their more chilled-out colleagues.