It seems climbing up the social ladder is good for your health, as a Swedish study has found that people who succeed in life have a lower risk of heart attacks and strokes. Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm studied the backgrounds and medical records of 12,030 people born between 1926 and 1958.

They found that people in low socio-economic groups and those whose parents came from a poor background had 42 per cent elevated risk of high blood pressure,

Rates of high blood pressure were also higher among those who were light at birth, of short stature and drank large quantities of alcohol. However, those who managed to improve their ranking on the social ladder, the risk of high blood pressure was reduced by almost 20 per cent, the researchers said.

Detailing the findings in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, the authors wrote: “This study shows a positive association between low parental socioeconomic status and risk of hypertension, indicating that effects of socioeconomic status on blood pressure start early in life.