Relationship of Fitness to Reduction of Cardiovascular Disease

This paper will discuss the relationship of physical activity and fitness to the reduction of the risk of cardiovascular disease. There is a growing consensus that exercise contributes positively toward the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Several longitudinal studies have been conducted in recent years which tend to support this viewpoint. One of the first such studies was conducted in Framingham, Massachusetts, in the late 1960s. In an attempt to determine the causes of coronary heart disease, the researchers questioned over 1,600 persons who had a history of the disease. This data enabled the Framingham study researchers to establish a risk indicator known as "Type A behavior" (Stamler, 1983, p. 82). In this way it became possible to isolate which members of the population will stand a greater chance of contracting cardiovascular disease. For example, although men in general stand a greater risk of this than women do, elaborations of the Framingham Study have determined that women who experience early menopause run a seven times greater risk of heart disease than women for whom menopause occurs later in life (Notelovitz, 1987, p. 121).

The Framingham Study also isolated numerous other factors contributing to the risk of cardiovascular disease, including a sedentary lifestyle. On this basis, it can be seen that physical exercise and fitness provide possible approaches to counter this risk. This view was supported in a study conducted by Paffenbarger and As

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ion of Type A behavior is possibly in large numbers of Type A people and whether it results in primary and/or secondary prevention of coronary heart disease" (Stamler, 1983, p. 77). The findings published in these reports have also given rise to a number of heated controversies in the realm of medical research in recent years. For example, many researchers have accepted that a correlation exists between physical activity and reduction of risk of heart disease; however, they question whether exercise actually reduces the risk or if it is "just that healthy people exercise more than unhealthy ones" (Lavie et al., 1987, p. 67). Nevertheless, the growing consensus of opinion on this issue is that aerobic forms of exercise do tend to protect people from the risks of cardiovascular disease. Another controversy has arisen, however, over the question of whether or not an exercise program would be a benefit or detriment to the patient already suffering from cardiovascular disease. Many authorities have claimed that exercise poses a serious health threat to persons with heart problems. Others have written that exercise only poses a risk in certain circumstances. For example, one study has indicated that exertion levels may be advers

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