Arterial stiffness occurs as a consequence of biological aging and arteriosclerosis. What is often not well appreciated is that exercise can make a significant contribution to reducing arterial stiffness, and thus mitigating the adverse health consequences. 

How does that work?

​Exercising makes the heart work harder and this sends more frequent pulses of blood out into the arterial system. These "pulses" are not just pushed along by the force of the heart, as in a pump pushing water through a hose. The blood is pumped along by the muscles in the arteries contracting and squeezing like squeezing toothpaste.

This exercises the arterial and vascular muscles! The exercise reduces their "stiffness', just like other muscles. 

And in addition, as you exercise your heart it becomes stronger and able to pump out bigger pulses of blood with each stroke. That's why your resting heart rate drops as you get fitter. These bigger pulses make the arterial and vascular muscles work even harder to push the bigger pulses of blood along, and they get even less stiff.

Measuring your waist sounds like a very simple and perhaps innocent activity. But in fact it can tell you much more about your health than standing on the scales. After all, when you think about it, weighing yourself tells you very little. It tells you nothing about your body composition and nothing about what risks you have from, say, fat deposits in high risk areas (where you carry fat on your body is extremely important).

On the other hand, a waist measurement tells you important details about the location of fat and has proven correlations with future health risks. It reflects both health and nutritional status, and when associated with the shape of your body generalised health outcomes can be predicted. The reason is that under the skin of your tummy the intra-abdominal fat builds about around your organs, and this is what leads to the health problems (so-called metabolic fat). ​