Next to Last Place and Still a Winner?
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009“Almost last” aren’t usually words we affiliate with achievement. Indeed, very little in life, it seems, counts much at all if you don’t “hit the nail on the head.” Luckily for some, this may not be entirely the case when it comes to living longer. As a chiropractor in Honolulu, who has many older patients and who is also a firm believer in the advantages of exercise at every age, I was very surprised by the following study.
Researchers found that of the “least-fit” versus the “slightly more fit” in a recent study of nearly 4,400 healthy Americans, 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 nearly at the lowest fitness levels.) This is the time-honored “bad news/good news” type of result. It is certainly bad news if you are a resolute couch potato. However, it is definitely good news for those who haven’t quite hit rock bottom in the sedentary lifestyle department but are not, by any stretch of the imagination, energetic. Apparently, those individuals who continue to be just moderately fit as they age 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 evaluated during exercise treadmill tests sometime between 1986 and 2006. For approximately nine years thereafter, the researchers observed the study groups progress. Such factors as obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure were considered in the study. This, in and of itself, accentuates the significants 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 failed to get at least 30 minutes of moderate activity, five or more days a week, which was the minimum recommended amount of exercise. “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 discovered that 13 percent of those who were in slightly better shape had died during the study period. But, 25 percent of the least-fit men and women had died during the same period. Only 6 percent of the most-fit group (i.e., the ones who “hit the nail on the head,” so to speak) had died during the follow-up period.
The five fitness-level groups showed little difference, overall, in their reported exercise practices during most of their adult lives, but significantly, they differed 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, despite weight and other health issues such as those mentioned above, fitness is clearly linked to longevity. As such, exercise is vital to the extension of our lifespan. And, perhaps it goes without saying, imagine the health advantages we could all experience if we worked our way up into the higher levels of fitness.
SOURCE: Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, August 2009.