stretching vs heart disease [a.k.a. vascular disease, a.k.a blood vessel issues]……
“Maintenance and enhancement of vascular endothelial function contribute to the prevention of cardiovascular disease and prolong a healthy life expectancy. Given the reversible nature of vascular endothelial function, interventions to improve this function might prevent arteriosclerosis.”
“Accordingly, we studied the effects of a 6-month static stretching intervention on vascular endothelial function and arterial stiffness and investigated the reversibility of these effects after a 6-month detraining period following intervention completion.”

“The study evaluated 22 healthy, non-smoking, premenopausal women aged ≥40 years. Subjects were randomly assigned to the full-intervention (n = 11; mean age: 48.6 ± 2.8 years) or a half-intervention that included a control period (n = 11; mean age: 46.9 ± 3.6 years).”

“Body flexibility and vascular endothelial function improved significantly after 3 months of static stretching.”

“In addition to these improvements, arterial stiffness improved significantly after a 6-month intervention. However, after a 6-month detraining period, vascular endothelial function, flexibility, and arterial stiffness all returned to preintervention conditions, demonstrating the reversibility of the obtained effects.”

“A 3-month static stretching intervention was found to improve vascular endothelial function, and an additional 3-month intervention also improved arterial stiffness. However, these effects were reversed by detraining.”

H.Shinno, et al
Evaluation of a static stretching intervention on vascular endothelial function and arterial stiffness
European Journal Of Sport Science — Volume 17 #5 — 2017 — page 586