As one gets older optimal fitness gets more difficult. The osteoarthritis from pushing one's limits too far is a limiting factor. That doesn't appear to be addressed in this research or at least in this article.
5
This makes perfect sense to me. My husband exercised all his life, was amazingly fit and strong, until he died recently of bone cancer at the age of 92.
The family motto is "If you work out hard enough and long enough you will eventually be strong enough to hurt yourself really bad."
Is it possible that previously "elite" subjects had been injured or had otherwise reduced their fitness to the extent of descending into another group before their stress tests? In other words, the "elite" might be "elite" because they are (still) "elite".
1
I’m not surprised. While I don’t deny that smoking can cause health problems, it seems to me that the effects have been egregiously overstated. The anti-smoking media acts like you will drop dead from smoking, but the reality is it will shave a few years off your life. I’m not a smoker, and have never been a smoker- just my observations.
My best friend believed this. He exercised and continued to smoke. He died of a massive heart attack at age 76. He was in great shape though.
3
It is depressing how many of these comments are all about me me me.
2
My 87-year-old father who competed in the Senior Olympics until last year, running the 440 and the 1500, has been sidelined by excruciating arthritis. He can barely walk. His doctor's solution is to dose him with opiods, which he does not want to take. Can anyone blame him, considering the addiction factor? He is trying to reorganize his exercise routine, but the pain is making it very difficult. He is not allowed to take steroids due to other medical conditions.
He lives in Florida, which recently legalized medical marijuana. The idiot Republican legislature has been trying for two years to prevent any dispensaries from opening, or any doctors being licensed to prescribe it. They have also limited patient access, as well: if you don't have AIDS, cancer, or a handful of other fatal diseases, you're not able to obtain a prescription. Not even if your spine, hips, and shoulders are riddled with arthritis.
There is something terribly wrong with a medical system that tries to force opiods on people who don't want them, but refuses to make available less toxic, less addictive pain treatment. How many other old people are benched when the body fails and conservative legislators refuse to help open up new treatment possibilities?
15
@Allison
Get cbd’s from Colorado
So if you’re really fit and never smoke can you live to 150?
3
Excellent question. At least someone is thinking outside the box
Legs are half of your body for a reason.
2
I like the Times’ new practice of turning at least one article per week over to the editorial and art direction staff of The Onion. The best part is how many people I have heard mention today “There’s an article in the paper today saying being fit is healthy for you”.
3
I recall that famous doctor that had the health clinic in Dallas that advocated daily cerise. He dropped dead of a heart attack in his 50s while jogging.
@Paulie
Kenneth Cooper had a health clinic in Dallas and advocated daily exercise. He's still very much alive.
Jim Fixx, the author of the book "The Complete Book of Running", which helped launch the running movement died while on a run at age 52. While he had a congenitally enlarged heart, he out-lived his sedentary father by 9 years. His father had his first heart attack at age 35.
7
@tom - YES, cross-country skiing is the KING of aerobic exercises! Have at it! No need for any gym!
1
@GEH
yes, and so practical...in L.A. I would think you can find a snowy patch easily.
4
If you smoke and exercise you can quit both and be healthier.
3
I would imagine the fit get more out of however long they live as well. They can do more, go more places, and generally participate more than the unfit.
3
The takeaway for the average American would be to avoid being too fit. The average American simply cannot financially afford to live too long and nobody wants to spend their final years in penury.
1
@Bob Walters You're kidding but... the success of the "Don't Smoke" campaign has been cited as contributing to the financial shortfalls looming in the Social Security system.
I absorbed fitness as a lifestyle around 45.
Now at 52, it is exciting to keep on striving to be one’s best self. The healthiest patients of mine of all ages are those who exercise. It just doesn’t fail, just move anyhow and anyway. You won’t regret it.
6
Kudos on the photo: nice to see black people represented doing ordinary, everyday, human things like running, rather than only being used for "black" stories.
I feel this is a growing trend in the Times, and it makes me happy.
22
It is surprising that people need a study to know this. I guess people just don't listen to their bodies very well. I suppose that since we have reached modern times we have been sold on the "fact" that leisure and inactivity are a luxury and to be desired. We buy all these modern conveniences so that we can sit and do nothing, but then because we sit and do nothing too much, we buy exercise equipment. Too bad we can't find some balance that does not require us to spend so much money on stuff. I guess it's just a brave new world.
2
@Chris "It is surprising that people need a study to know this." Not really, unless you have a very loose definition of knowledge. As the article makes explicit, the study brings data to bear on an area that was previously mainly based on self-reporting.
It also answers some less intuitive questions, such as whether the upper levels of endurance lead to higher mortality. This answer is not necessarily in line with "Nothing in excess", so traditional, proverbial wisdom is not more reliable than intuitions or armchair theorizing.
We need to get to grips with the idea that there is a fundamental difference between common sense and scientific knowledge, and that the science that confirms common sense is no less valuable than the science that refutes or corrects it.
7
Like so many of life's activities, for most of us, there are trade-offs, i.e., there's no magic bullet for everyone. If you have the DNA for intense aerobics on a long term basis, great balance and the time/$$$, go for it and lift tons of weight as well. If your DNA and inherent physical skills are not so great or you have to work three jobs just to "make it", I guess you do whatever you can. In any event, people suffer trauma, injuries do happen, inflammation happens, accidents happen, people trip, twist ankles, fall, make a sudden movement that triggers a back spasm, etc, etc. This stuff has a direct impact on the exercise routines. To indicate otherwise, by omission, undermines the credibility of the thesis, yes? How many people dropped out and why? Seems kinda Utopian to a casual eye.
7
I doubt any thinking 20 year old would be relishing living into their 80s with the environmental disasters that are just over the horizon.
13
Thanks to Jeenah Moon for the inspirational photo, unless of course it's just a Cigna ad, otherwise it makes me want to be her, watch, ear buds, shades, I'll get there someday. Also the stud in her ear. Also the reflected light in the arm pit, what a great photo. And I'd like to have nice nails.
2
Yet another Gretchen Reynolds column that does not address the difference between correlation and causality.
Someone whose health is failing for any number of reasons may be less able to ace a fitness test. The test may predict earlier mortality, but it does not mean that a lower scoring patient isn't already exercising as much as they are able, given their health.
Perhaps the original article addresses that issue, but the NY Times editors should insist that these phys ed columns clarify the difference between correlation and causality, which they never do,
23
@Lynn
Let me echo these concerns. It would be great to get more nuanced reporting of these scientific articles, and it would also be helpful to report only on studies that were seriously conducted, published in good peer review journals, and written by serious people. I am not saying that this article in particular is not, but it is plagued by serious problems that prevent one from learning much about whether increased fitness leads to a longer life. Thank you.
6
I'm 49 and lonely, because I'm too short to attract women in NYC. So, I'm trying to induce cardiac arrest by running 7.5 miles (60 minutes) almost daily. I also do very intense lifting. The result is my body is looking more and more like Henry Cavill's, but I'm still hoping for that mid-run heart attack. I'm probably too fit for it to happen.
7
I am 70. 5 weeks out of open heart surgery.
I have worked myself up to approximately 20,000 steps/day.
My heart problem was because of a birth defect which resulted in a bad valve which, in turn, resulted in an aneurysm that could have burst at any time.
I had no symptoms. I believe one reason is that my wife and I are, for our ages, very fit. For the past 7 years we have averaged about 11 hours of exercise every week. Three years ago I started keeping detailed records of our hiking, cycling, dancing, walking, ping pong, cutting up logs for our home heat, etc.
My cardiologist said she has never seen someone recover so quickly. I'm not elite in terms of my activities in any way. But what I am, because my wife and I enjoy the outdoors, is consistent. We try to do something every day. Last year we got 2500 cycling miles and 500 backpack hiking miles.
There were no lifestyle issues that necessitated the open heart surgery. Low cholesterol, low blood pressure, low weight, great diet.
BUT, the take-home message is that I went into this surgery with a terrific chance of living through it, and, because we had been consistent in our activities, I have recovered very quickly. In fact, my sternum will require several more weeks to heal, or we'd already be swimming. We start back on the bikes next week.
Exercise is the key to so much. Doing it with someone you love is even better.
And for God's sake, do whatever you can to avoid open heart surgery. It is brutal.
31
Correlation and causation are clearly mixed here.
1 yr healthy yr more able to enjoy exercise and resulting benefits.
2. Health issues drive motivate some to exercise.
That seemingly clearly helps longevity.
3. Being moderatel “ healthy” defined. Simplistically asnot in pain in both pictures is massively helpful.
Bottom line is there are health benefits to exercise
The interesting point is Apparently there is acurve that does not stop, ie more overall is better (ignoring the one off famous fitness guru heart attacks which are statistically a non event)
If you have an ability to enjoy exercise take advantage.
Thats the simple answer without pompous lectures.
4
Too bad for me. I despise exercising and have never had an exercise induced endorphin in my life. Every time I have made a new commitment to go to the gym regularly it is a severe struggle. Only guilt propels me to go. People tell me I will feel so much better after I exercise. This has never happened, even when I have exercised regularly for months. It is never anything other than excruciating. I think I have different brain wiring than those who love exercising. I would like to see research into this.
11
@KateHave you tried to find some form of exercise that you enjoy? If you are just going to the gym and using the nearest machine, no wonder you are unhappy. If you are just using a treadmill, have you tried a bike? Would you prefer classes over doing it alone? Dancing (Zumba) or spinning? Yoga or pilates? Bootcamp? Walking in the park? There are so many options, but the key is to find something that you enjoy, or at least like enough to make a part of your routine. That is the only way to get that exercise high, and have it become as much a part of your day as brushing your teeth. I run outside 5 days a week, winter and summer, in the pitch dark (like this morning) or in temperatures down to zero. However, I detest running on a treadmill, or really any aerobic activity on the machines inside. I also cycled seriously for many years (outside). The key is finding an activity that you like.
16
@Kate I am just like you basically. Here is the thing I discovered, I never pushed myself hard enough to derive the 'feel good' benefits. Not the endorphin release- that has still never happened. But once i started taking Barre classes I became so well toned- in a ridiculously short amount of time- that I actually experienced the- I feel better because I exercise feeling. Try a Barre class a few times per week for a month and see how you feel. You will probably be amazed. Add some brisk walking for cardio and it's as good as it's gonna get for me.
7
@Scientist
Truly, I don’t mean to sound glib but some of us don’t enjoy anything about exercise and it’s not a matter of finding the right thing. But I do understand that this comes at a cost.
3
Immortality—or as close as we can get to it—is tough.
But I guess we just gotta keep tryin’.
1
Yet another helpful and inspiring article by Gretchen Reynolds! And also, so nice to see someone other than a skinny white man or woman pictured in an article about fitness. #whatfitpersonlookslike
7
“We did not see any indication that you can be too fit,” - this is not the same as saying that you can't overexercise. Like most things you can overdo it. But that's not an issue for most people.
4
Here will go again, another study, give it a few yrs. and a new study will come out refuting this one.
The study certainly may have some truth to it but not because it is groundbreaking research but because everybody knows it starting from Stone Age people.
If you exercise you may on average live a little bit longer than the guy who doesn't exercise.
However, the guy who doesn't exercise on average will have less back, leg, knee and feet problems later in life and also on average will be able to enjoy more hot fudge sundaes than his opposite.
The point is for every action in life there is both good and bad that comes out of it.
If you abuse wine, women, song and drugs, you have the most fun like Jimi Hendrix but die at age 27.
If you live like Jack Lalanne, never eat white bread, booze, dessert and exercise six hrs. a day, you will live to age 95 but will lead a boring life with no vice fun.
3
@Paul
However, the guy who doesn't exercise on average will have less back, leg, knee and feet problems later in life and also on average
Not if that person is overweight. I've read that knee and hip replacements are more common than ever ebfore, and that's not because more people than ever are running. It' because more people than ever are obese. I'd bet that obesity hurts one's knees more than running does.
4
@Paul. I am 62. Fit running for 35 years eat sundaes. I enjoy life. You are absolutely wrong. My friends who are like you are the ones suffering from what u describe
@Paul
I exercise a lot. I rarely drink and don't eat white flour. For me, fun = sex with younger women, skiing, and racing cars. I do like rare steak and sometimes fried chicken. I think I lack a gene for enjoying alcohol. I enjoy socializing, but not the alcohol that goes along with it. My biggest vice is hitting 105mph on the Saw Mill Parkway at 1AM.
I am sure that staying fit and lean is much easier for those of us who don't crave alcohol or sugar. I don't even like pizza, but I won't admit that in public. My big pleasure is roasted pistachios. I go nuts with nuts.
1
Thanks for actually linking to the study!
How much longer do people live who are fit? The article unfortunately does not say.
2
There are interesting health researches on being fit and cognitive impairment for older folks.
Both frailty and sarcopenia (muscle loss) could be associated with mild cognitive impairment which leads to dementia.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27025095
Particularly, sarcopenia was independently associated with cognitive impairment.
https://www.jamda.com/article/S1525-8610(16)30428-5/fulltext
Sarcopenia alone and in combination with sarcopenic obesity can be used in clinical practice as indicators of probable cognitive impairment. At-risk older adults may benefit from programs addressing loss of cognitive function by maintaining/improving strength and preventing obesity.
https://www.dovepress.com/sarcopenic-obesity-and-cognitive-performance-peer-reviewed-article-CIA
1
Sorry, no time to comment, spin class starts in 3 minutes.
5
This study did not conclude that you cannot exercise too much, it concluded that you cannot be too aerobically fit. Someone who overexercised and wore down or damaged their cartilage, ligaments, and tendons would perform poorly on the treadmill test. Right?
8
So often these articles focus on longevity. I took a different view. I wanted the time I have left to be a good life. After working hard at the job and neglecting my health for 30 years, I started training with a crossfit coach when I turned 59. I knew I needed to change course. My friends were suffering from sciatica pain and joint damage, as was I. It is never too late to turn things around. "I have not turned into an Adonis, but I feel a lot better and I am capable of doing more. My doctor is happy with the results and even though I have a lot of the American late-in-life maladies, I am on the right track and I recover better when the inevitable aches and pains assert themselves. Exercise is the best pill in my medicine cabinet.
15
I’m a 74 year old woman who’s in good shape without much exercise, and I do not have any of the aches and pains that seem to be expected in older age. Will that happen overnight one day?
@Seth
I'm 49. I discovered skiing at age 45. The only thing I like ore than skiing is sex. I feel immortal and ageless when I ski. I tend to think that skiing is the cure for almost everything. Anyhow, I'm staying fit so I can ski to 80. I did tear my rotator cuff in 2017. I can bench 230 lbs (very good for being 160lbs and 49 years old), but muscles won't protect one's ligaments and tendons. My muscles will outlive my ligaments and tendons.
I think aging has to do with the reduced effectiveness of respiration. Cells/muscles need oxygen. In that regard, I think respiration = youth. Keep your lungs as young as strong as possible for as long as possible (I quit smoking in 2010).
One correction - an annual treadmill test is not a recommended medical test by the US Preventive Services Task Force. The fact that it is done probably reflects on some physician’s desire to make more money. It is sometimes used to diagnosis heart disease.
1
Indeed it’s possible to exercise too much, as almost anything can be done to excess. There are many people, often women, who tend to obsessively exercise because of low self image or worse, an eating disorder.
Exercise can become detrimental to many people when it otherwise ought to be the ultimate “mood” elevator as mentioned here by many in the comments. Trouble is, people that are over-exercising are typically already struggling with depression and other issues that ironically in this case, exercise cannot help.
Time and again stories are written about exercise (or anything - sleep, food, family, school) as if it were *normal* or typical for everyone when in some other article, they tell us that mental health issues affect more of us every day and yet they write la-di-da articles like this indicating it’s just ducky and normal for everyone when read your own headlines....is it really?
Consider adding some range when you write your stories. Very little is this easy or one dimensional or simply summed up today unfortunately and indeed exercise, as with almost anything, can and sadly is, abused. The stories of what is done are so sad.
Not meaning to be snowflak-ish, but really wanting to change the conversation to open minds. It all starts at understanding each other, kindness, compassion. That is enough. Stop ignoring what’s different among us...it doesn’t make for good outcomes, or can’t you see that?
@Colleen you make me thing of the effect of exercise on fertility. If women exercise too much, I think it makes them less fertile, but I don't know if it's been proven.
@Fruit Gal 5 22 I don't think it is likely too much exercise affects fertility, I think it is too little body fat
@Fruit Gal 5 22 my understanding is that this results from being underweight
"These stress tests, which sometimes are part of standard yearly checkups and other times are ordered by physicians to check for cardiac or other health problems..."
It appears to me like the sample is heavily weighted towards those who already have cardiac issues. How does that affect the results?
4
I'm 69 years old and I exercise every day. I run four days a week averaging four miles a day. Two days a week I lift weights and on Sunday my wife and I walk three miles. I also take a boxing class which I run to and from on one of my running days. I'm not doing it for longevity but for quality of life over quantity and also for my mental well being. The euphoria I feel after a strenuous workout is hard to explain to anyone who doesn't work out regularly. I also want to be in shape for when I may be faced with a medical issue. I want to be ready for anything that comes my way.
43
Meh. I am usually too busy to exercise. Right now is hunting season and the dog and I are headed out the door this morning for a few miles of walking. We got most of the wood cut, chopped and split, the dock pulled and the boats put away. Alas, winter is coming and hibernation and sloth are the order of the day (unless we are cross country skiing or snowshoeing).
Does that count as exercise? the nearest "gym" is 30 miles away.
16
@tom, I say yes! Exercise does not mean "going to the gym." Doing household chores can be exercise just as not doing household chores can lead to unfitness. As a 75 year old, I made a commitment to never use escalators if stairways are available. At airports, whether carrying bags or not, it's a great way to move ahead in line because using the stairs is always faster. You may break a sweat and breathe heavily but isn't that what exercise does? I shovel my own snow without a snowblower; just me and my shovel. You can strategize your life around moving about in ways that don't require carving out blocks of time for "exercise." Like hunting, for instance ... and walking with your dogs year 'round, chopping wood and boating. C'mon, man!
3
Of course that is exercise. You would perform well on the treadmill test, I imagine.
I find when I get up in the morning my "glass is half empty" - yes - must be need to "break fast." But if I don't exercise my negative mind set seems to extend through the day. For me - exercise (aerobic or strength) breaks through the "fog" and my "glass is half full" for the remainder of the day. Exercise is a "must have" for me!
33
@Texan I also exercise principally for my mental health. I think if I didn't exercise pretty hard every day I'd probably require medication for depression and or anxiety.
12
@Texan I'm the same. I run 10 miles a day, 6 days a week. That seventh day, I rest because my legs probably need it physically. But mentally, that day is always the worst day of the week for me. I don't feel the same.
4
The American Heart Association compiled a compelling case for fitness in a position statement from July 20, 2017 published in the journal Circulation. The abstract states "A growing body of epidemiological and clinical evidence demonstrates ...that cardiorespiratory fitness is a potentially stronger predictor of mortality than established risk factors such as smoking, hypertension, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes mellitus..." What is encouraging is that increasing aerobic fitness decreases mortality from vascular causes as well as cancer and was associated with a decrease in all-cause mortality (except stupidity).
Research cited in a 2012 Bipartisan Policy Center report quantified where our health comes from: 50% lifestyle, 20% environment, 20% genetics and 10% access to healthcare. Not surprisingly, we spend 88% on healthcare and only 4% on lifestyle.
Doctors quantify health with numbers in all sorts of ways, including a number for your blood pressure, your glucose, your cholesterol, your hemoglobin A1C. Measure your VO2 max and you will have a number to quantify perhaps the most telling measure -- your cardiorespiratory fitness.
But you're not likely to see TV ads promoting HIIT paying for the nightly news anytime soon so don't expect your doctor to spend lots of time on CRF because there is not a medicine that can improve it.
12
As some readers below have pointed out, this "news" has been around since Buddha and before. What to do? Survive, yes, as long as we can. If we're fortunate in our life situations, we can discipline ourselves through education, receive some decent nurturing along the way, along with the luck of genetics to keep going as long as we can. And yet, we all end up dead. Would you prefer terminal cancer, or death by heart attack, massive stroke, or getting struck in traffic? Yeah, we all want to die peacefully asleep. My maternal grandfather died that way at 63 of heart failure in his sleep, after doing some extensive repairs on his roof, and living a life of hard labor, which only in his last years was rewarded with a little financial success. His grandchildren's memories of him half a century later all celebrate how we cherished that man and the love he gave us, when our parents were too tired and uptight to provide that. Some think memories from our loved ones are our only chance at brief immortality. We should work on that more, so we can live beyond whatever strikes us dead. The world will be a better place if we do. It's good to exercise daily if you can, eat nutritionally, and find a balance in your life between ambition and relaxing to enjoy what your life has to appreciate. Beyond that, we are finite beings. That's how it is. We all need to focus more on enjoying this incredible time we have left on this precious planet.
32
@Bett Bidleman. “... how we cherished that man and the love he gave us”
Even if being fit dose not increase longevity, I feel better when I exercise because of the overall feeling of wellness that I have. I believe it wards off depression. Being a senior citizen I know that falling is one of the worst risks we face. I do everything I can, in the way of exercise, to keep the strength and balance in my legs. So far, so good.
70
This study is deeply flawed. Selecting people who are already fit is a blatant example of selection bias. People who are healthier in a variety of ways are likely to be more fit. Also likely to live longer.
17
At 78 and having exercised virtually all my life, I can't argue against fitness. It also helps with your mood and helps reduce stress. You have to be flexible though. If you do the crawl too much while swimming, you may have to switch to the breast stroke to minimize rotator cuff damage. And if you run, you may have switch to walking or the elliptical to protect your back and knees and hips. And if you love to eat and you can't exercise as much, guess what - you have to switch to vegetables, ugh. Perhaps it's best for exercise fanatics to remember, all things in moderation.
58
@R. Anderson If cooked well, vegetables can be as tasty as anything else. Perhaps a good cookbook would help?
5
It is hard to know which lifestyle choices are most important to long life, aside from those over which we have no choice like our genetic makeup. I suspect we all know, or know of those who did not exercise, drank and/or smoked heavily, and lived long lives. The counterpoint is, of course, equally true: the abstinent person who “lived cleanly” and died at an early age!
I am now a certifiably old man who, in my late 70s goes to the gym almost every day for a cardio, strength or flexibility session. I would feel incomplete without some kind of daily workout. That is me. I have also become far more conscious about what I eat over the last 20 years, moving to more fats from carbohydrates.
However, I also enjoy a scotch nearly every day and a cigar from time-to-time. Am I living a healthy lifestyle, or am I simply living a life I enjoy and am comfortable with? Is longevity an accident of the things you do, which make you contented, or is it something that can be manufactured from longevity studies. I don’t know!
11
OK so what about the fact that physical limitations may prohibit people from exercising as much as they other wise would? To me, it sounds like people who are ABLE to exercise more live longer - and those who have physical limitations or other health limitations be it injury, arthritis or heart disease are not able to exercise as vigorously as those who don’t have those limitations. So is it the exercise or the initial lack of ailments that is the reason for the longevity?
13
@shar. It is the effort that counts. Everybody has some type of physical limitation to a greater or lesser degree. When starting from the bottom, possibly critical condition (Obesity or relearning to walk after an accident), and trying to improve a physical issue with physical therapy, the mental energy generated by the individual to self motivate is very powerful in it's self. It is not important or realistic to achieve high level of performance but to strive towards fitness throughout the course of life.
4
It would be more meaningful if the article defined what is meant by dying "prematurely." Does that mean dying before the average age of death? Something else?
8
@Anne-Marie Hislop The Social Security Administration, which should know, says U.S. males have an average life span of about 77 these days and women about 82. But a male neighbor lived to be 104, another 94 and still another is 92 and seemingly very healthy. However, another died at 50.
5
@Anne-Marie Hislop - My death will certainly be premature. I suspect many people share my view.
2
So if you exercise, can you go back to smoking?
21
Actually, one *can* exercise too much. Exercising too much is often what leads, eventually, to overuse injuries and physical (and mental) burnout. What matters is this: wisely developing each individual's personal capacity for exercising, and reaping the wondrous benefits from that exercise.
49
@fiona this was going to be my point, I started power walking daily at 35 when my Dad had his first heart event, now at 60, with otherwise great health and praise for MD's for walking, I have recently been dealing with painful overuse injury to my hip and lower back- no one told me that the pounding of walking on concrete greenways is very hard on joints- now I must break it up with interval swimming, bicycling but still deal with some pain- wish I had started this years ago to prevent the damage- best to do low impact exercise (elliptical machines, swim, bicycle, deep water swim walking, etc in addition to some outdoor, treadmill walking)
5
@Kim Hanchette I am okay with the aches and pains of knees, hips and a rotator cuff as a fair trade-off for being relatively healthy and nimble. Maybe it is just luck but I think I'll keep doing stuff.
1
@Kim Hanchette. I walk briskly to work and back almost an hour round-trip with a 7-10 lb. back pack carrying my lunch, iced tea and coffee to sip on at work, and a change of clothes depending on the weather. It is challenging to find shoes made for urban commuters, who need arch support and durable soles that absorb the stress of pounding concrete and asphalt.
2
Minor mention, one doesn't need to run regularly to perform well on a stress treadmill test, just long enough to finish the test. For myself, I ran my first treadmill and scored at about the 95th percentile when my workouts were rowing and the elliptical. Also, because of my height and weight, I would not choose to run regularly so nowadays mostly rowing erg, ski machine, spin bike, and elliptical.
7
Did I miss something? Why were these individuals getting cardiac stress testing? I am not a cardiologist, but I was under the impression it isn’t typically recommended in the absence of some solid reason. Wouldn’t it stand to reason then that this selection of patients would be more likely to have health issues that result in poor performance on stress testing? What am I misssing here?
12
@BBB - I have Type 1 diabetes, and although I have not experienced a cardiac event a treadmill test was recommended. I always have some skepticism regarding suggestions, but I've had excellent doctors, and have a stress test every few years to check my status. Even then, I've been told I'm more likely to have a false positive than a real finding. That said, I have been working out for over 30 years, running, biking, rowing, etc., was certified as a trainer at some point, and I typically score at the 95th percentile or above for my age. Technically I'm worse off than average, but much fitter.
7
@BBB I was a competitive endurance athlete for decades and still train at nearly the same level. A few years ago, while undergoing a routine procedure where I needed to be at the clinic early and wasn't allowed to eat/drink I ended up passing out as I was coming out from the anesthesia. This happened due to my HR (low 30's), low blood pressure, and dehydration (cause I hadn't been allowed to drink water and they didn't use an IV for the short procedure). You can bet they wanted to test me in all sorts of ways after that. My resting HR and blood pressure are, often times, alarming in hospital settings. I was tested and everything was fine but every couple of years my RHR and blood pressure alarm somebody and they do another series of tests to make sure everything is a go. You can bet the next time I have a routine procedure, they'll give me an IV too:)
8
I am missing this point as well
I'm glad this article mentions genes as it plays a major factor in health and longevity, but failed to mention nutrition and dieting, which plays an equally if not greater role towards health-span than exercise alone. In fact, nutrition and genes are tightly intertwine as our different polymorphisms determines how are metabolisms interact with the foods that we consume.
I know it would be difficult to measure subjects who are sedentary but consumes a relatively healthy diet due to subjects who do stick to a healthy diet are more likely to exercise and the vice-versa is also true.
3
@Woodley Lamousnery The article mentions towards the end that exercise frequency was not measured, only fitness. It's likely that there was a decent sized cross-section of people in the study that didn't exercise often but ate healthily, and scored more highly for fitness; or that excised often but with poor diet, lowering their fitness score. However, since the study didn't track that information (and even if it did self-reported data is often faulty), it is impossible to tell.
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@Ryan what you eat has nothing to do with fitness. Fitness is exclusively a measure of how much you move your body and to what extremes.
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@Woodley Lamousnery
While I generally avoid fast food, I never diet and enjoy pizza at least once a week. Don't think I could do that without exercise.
Also healthy people are more apt to enjoy exercise than unhealthy people.
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I hate when people complain that correlation isn’t necessarily causation, (umbrellas don’t make it rain) but it does seem like healthy people are more apt to exercise and become fit than people that aren’t healthy.
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@Peter Silverman
I exercise--stairs equivalent to 40% of the Empire State building today. I'm 73, had a heart attack 21 years ago. Statins at too high a dose gave me peripheral artery disease.
I exercise BECAUSE I have heart disease and peripheral artery disease, not because I'm healthy. I exercise so that I can continue to travel and work, despite my health issues. Exercise keeps my conditions stable, rather than progressing.
I think your assertion that healthy people are more apt to exercise may be much less true than you think.
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@Peter Silverman. I started exercise ~40 years ago because of a health problem, and never stopped.
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I remember reading decades ago in a sports medicine journal, that aerobic capacity, Max VO2, was, paraphrased "70% attributable to how well you chose your parents." It's presumed to be significantly genetic, and although some of us can move the dial a bit, in my own case from the 95th to the 97th or 98th percentile, there is only so much anyone can do to improve this. That said, it might have been useful to caution reading too much into this, or at least acknowledging the heavy hereditary component.
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@James Igoe
An example of the role of genes: Jake LaMotta, heavyweight fighter, became obese after retiring from the ring. I was surprised to learn he lived to the ripe old age of 95 !
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@ring0 LaMotta became a heavyweight after he stopped boxing.
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Although more exercise might be better for longevity, I have two quibbles, one, around the law of diminishing returns and, two, effects on other life aspects. I've seen studies that showed optimal benefits at about 2.5 hours of exercise per week, and although one might get more from working out more, how much? The second is more personal, in that large amounts of exercise can reduce one's energy, and certainly one's time, for other activities, socializing, sex, relaxing, work, etc. Obviously, the decision is a personal one, but one that shouldn't be made without an awareness of life balance and opportunity costs.
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@James Igoe
Also the injury risk increases as you age and as you exercise more. I can’t run any more because I hurt my knee trying to increasing my walking speed, and didn’t know my knee could be a problem.
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@James Igoe - Apologies for the off-topic remark...
@James Igoe
High interval intensity exercises for 30-45 mins 4-5 days a week or even 1 day out of the week should be suffice for most of us. I'm still young, so I can afford to lift heavy. However, as I age I plan to switch to using lighter weights combined with intensity exercise. The goal is to move as much as possible throughout the day regardless of exercise.
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