Even if your arteries have more gunk, if you exercise, you’re still more likely to live longer than someone who doesn’t.

Even though super-fit people have more calcium in their heart arteries, they still live longer and have fewer heart attacks — their fitness seems to protect them from the danger of the plaque.

High-volume, high-intensity endurance exercise increases coronary artery plaque burden without increasing all-cause or cardiovascular mortality risk in otherwise healthy individuals.

High-intensity endurance exercise, when accumulated over long durations, is associated with a significantly increased prevalence of coronary artery plaque, an association not detected using self-reported exercise metrics.

Even though athletes are super fit, their heart plaques aren’t more stable or ‘safer’ than those of healthy non-athletes—so being an elite athlete doesn’t make plaque less dangerous.

If you're an adult with early signs of heart disease but no symptoms yet, being very active can help you live longer and avoid heart problems — studies suggest it might delay death by over 30%.