October 13th, 2009
“Close” isn’t usually a word we connect in our mind with success. In fact, not many things in life, it seems, count much at all if you don’t “hit a grand slam.” Fortunately, this may not be absolutely true when it comes to an extended lifespan. As a chiropractor in Dallas, who has many older patients and who is also fully dedicated to encouraging my patients to exercise at every age level, I was very interested in the following study.
Researchers found that of the “least-fit” versus the “slightly more fit” in a recent study of nearly 4,400 healthy U.S. adults, roughly 20 percent with the lowest physical fitness levels were twice as likely to die over the next nine years as the 20 percent with the next-lowest fitness levels. (To put it another way, those 20 percent who were close to the lowest fitness levels.) This is the familiar “bad news/good news” outcome. It is undoubtedly bad news if you are a resolute couch potato. But, it is genuinely good news for those who haven’t completely embraced a sedentary lifestyle but are not, by any means, “exertive.” Apparently, those people who continue to be even moderately fit as they grow older may live longer than those who are totally out-of-shape, the study suggests.
The study included 4,384 middle-aged and senior adults whose fitness levels were assessed during exercise treadmill tests sometime between 1986 and 2006. For nearly nine years thereafter, the researchers followed the study groups progress. Such factors as obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure were considered in the study. This, in and of itself, underscores the importance of physical fitness itself. In an email to Reuters Health, Dr. Sandra Mandic, of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, and lead researcher of the study noted: “Our findings suggest that a sedentary lifestyle, rather than differences in cardiovascular risk factors or age, may explain the two-fold higher mortality rates in the least-fit versus slightly more fit individuals.”
Nearly two-thirds of the least-fit study participants were not getting the minimum recommended amount of exercise, which is at least 30 minutes of moderate activity (like brisk walking) five or more days a week. “These results emphasize the importance of improving and maintaining high fitness levels by engaging in regular physical activity,” Mandic said, “particularly in poorly-fit individuals.”
After classifying the study group participants by fitness levels, the researchers determined that 13 percent of those who were in slightly better shape had died during the study period. However, 25 percent of the least-fit participants had died during the same period. Only 6 percent of the most-fit group (i.e., the ones who “hit a grand slam,” so to speak) had died during the follow-up period.
The five fitness-level groups presented little dissimilarity, overall, in their reported exercise practices during most of their adult lives, but conspicuously, they contrasted in activity levels only in recent years. “Since it is recent physical activity that offers protection,” Mandic said, “it is important to maintain regular physical activity throughout life.”
In this particular study, irrespective of weight and other health problems such as those mentioned above, fitness is undeniably linked to longevity. Therefore, exercise is essential to the extension of our lifespan. And, perhaps it goes without saying, imagine the health benefits we could all experience if we worked towards the higher levels of fitness.
SOURCE: Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, August 2009.
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