“Not quite” isn’t usually a phrase we associate with accomplishment. In fact, not many things in life, it seems, count much at all if you don’t “hit a bull’s eye.” Fortunately, this may not be absolutely true when it comes to living longer. As a chiropractor in Santa Barbara, who has many senior patients and who is also a firm believer in the advantages of exercise at every age, I was very happy to read about the results of 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 nine years of the study 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” situation. It is undoubtedly bad news if you are a dyed-in-the-wool sofa spud. But, it is genuinely good news for those who haven’t completely embraced a sedentary lifestyle but are not, by definition, very active. Apparently, those people who continue to be just moderately fit as they grow older may have a longer lifespan than those who are entirely out-of-shape, the study suggests.
The study included 4,384 middle-aged and older adults whose fitness levels were evaluated during exercise treadmill tests sometime between 1986 and 2006. For an average of nine years thereafter, the researchers observed the study groups progress. The study considered such factors like obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes. This, in and of itself, underscores the value of being physically fit. 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.”
Separating the study group participants by fitness levels, the researchers discovered that 25 percent of the least-fit individuals had died during the study period, as opposed to 13 percent of those who were slightly more in shape. Only 6 percent of the most-fit group (i.e., the ones who “hit the bull’s eye,” so to speak) had died during the follow-up period.
The notable finding was that overall, the five fitness-level groups showed little variance in their reported exercise habits over their adult lives, but where they varied was their activity levels in recent years. “Since it is recent physical activity that offers protection,” Mandic said, “it is important to maintain regular physical activity throughout life.”
Since fitness is overtly connected to longevity (and, in this case, regardless of weight and health problems like high blood pressure and high cholesterol), And, of course, imagine the health benefits we could all obtain if we worked towards the higher levels of fitness.
SOURCE: Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, August 2009.
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