Sleep and Exercise May Help the Heart

Good sleep and regular exercise may help the heart. They may also lower the harm from some gene changes that raise the risk of heart disease and stroke. These gene changes can build up in immune cells over a lifetime. They can cause more swelling in the body and help raise the risk of heart problems. In one study, more active adults had fewer people with some of these gene changes. In mice, exercise led to smaller artery plaques and less disease. Bad sleep led to more disease. The effect was not the same for every gene change.