Other studies have linked poor flexibility to high blood sugar, which increases diabetes risk, as well as greater risk for metabolic syndrome -another risk factor for heart disease.

This is due in large part to the fact that diabetes, because it increases the amounts of sugar and fat circulating in the bloodstream, accelerates the onset of coronary atherosclerosis.

Karunakar and Staples recently presented the effects of stress-induced hyperglycemia on the rates of infection in 110 nondiabetic orthopaedic trauma patients8.