Recent research, published in the European Heart Journal, finds that physical activity can decrease the risk of a heart attack in healthy people by half.

A team of researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s Cardiac Exercise Research Group in Trondheim analyzed the cardiorespiratory fitness of more than 4,500 people who participated in the health survey HUNT3. Nobody had a history of cardiovascular disease, lung disease, or hypertension.

Bjarne Nes, the lead researcher of the study, comments: “Our study shows that poorer fitness is an independent risk factor for coronary artery disease, even among healthy women and men who are relatively fit.”