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Good news for urban dwellers: The cardiovascular advantages of your exercise aren’t canceled out by the health risks of automobile exhaust fumes in your city air. A study in Journal of the American Heart Association It found that regular exercise reduced the danger of heart attack even when people were often exposed to moderate to high levels of air pollution attributable to traffic. Air pollution is understood to extend the danger of heart attacks in addition to respiratory problems, including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Researchers studied data from greater than 51,000 people between the ages of fifty and 65, how often people exercised and their exposure to traffic pollutant nitrogen dioxide, amongst other lifestyle aspects. Over an 18-year period, about 3,000 of those people had a primary heart attack, and 324 had a repeat heart attack.
People who lived in areas with high levels of nitrogen dioxide had a 17 percent higher risk of a primary heart attack and a 39 percent higher risk of a recurrent heart attack, in comparison with those with lower exposure to traffic pollution. But regular exercise appears to cut back this risk. Regardless of air quality, lively participants had a 15 percent lower rate of initial heart attacks. So, even when the air you are respiratory is lower than ideal, regular exercise helps protect your heart.