The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
NEW research has found a measurable negative impact on the health of blood vessels in 15 and 16-year-old boys with low fitness levels. This disturbing detail was released to mark the launch of Aviva Health’s Schools’ Fitness Challenge 2015 Boys with low fitness levels, who performed poorly in a 20m shuttle run test, were also more likely to be overweight, have higher blood pressure and cholesterol when compared to children with moderate to high fitness levels. Heart disease, which involves the build-up of plaque in the walls of blood vessels, is the leading cause of death in Ireland. The research found that boys with low levels of fitness had significantly more plaque in the walls of the arteries supplying the brain than the boys with high levels of fitness. In 2014, nine Clare schools (50% of secondary schools) signed up for the Schools’ Fitness Challenge. A total of 13,067 students (7,242 boys and 5,825 girls) from 26 counties across Ireland successfully …
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