Researchers found that of the “least-fit” versus the “slightly more fit” of the nearly 4,400 healthy Americans in their recent study, roughly 20 percent with the lowest physical fitness levels doubled the risk of dying 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 almost at the lowest fitness levels.) This is the time-honored “bad news/good news” outcome. It is undoubtedly bad news if you are a dyed-in-the-wool couch potato. However, it is definitely good news for those who haven’t entirely embraced a sedentary lifestyle but are not, by any means, very active. Apparently, those men and women who stay only moderately fit as they age may have a longer lifespan than those who are completely out-of-shape, the study suggests.

Between 1986 and 2006, researchers determined the fitness levels of 4,384 middle-aged and older adults during exercise treatmill tests. The researchers then followed their progress for an average of nine years. The study took into consideration factors like obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes. This, in and of itself, highlights the significants of being physically fit. In an email to Reuters Health, lead researcher, Dr. Sandra Mandic of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, 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.”

Separating the participants into five groups based on fitness levels, the researchers found that 25 percent of the least-fit men and women 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 five fitness-level groups presented little difference, 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, regardless of weight and other health problems such as those mentioned above, fitness is undeniably linked to longevity. Therefore, exercise is vital to the extension of our lifespan. And, perhaps it goes without saying, imagine the health benefits we could all derive if we worked towards the higher levels of fitness.

SOURCE: Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, August 2009.

Technorati Tags: exercise, longevity, middle age, physical fitness

But, before you decide to add an extra cup of coffee to your morning ritual, let me warn you that also on the website, under “Related Stories,” were a couple of articles about studies that showed the negative effects of caffeine, “Morning Jolt of Caffeine May Mask Serious Sleep Problems,” and “Coffee Consumption Linked To Increased Risk Of Heart Attack For Persons With Certain Gene Variation.”

Nearly every angle of thought, I’ve noticed, particularly when it has to do with age-related health issues, can be corroborated, or at least given credence, by a number of specific studies. The “good/bad” studies related to caffeine certainly aren’t, of course, the only ones. Nonetheless, it did get me to pondering about the reasonableness that there will never be simply “one thing” that will absolutely help we, humans, to live longer, healthier lives. We are dynamic, biological creatures. We are free to engage in life. We’re not confined to a cage! And, furthermore, though Alzheimer’s disease may be on the rise, obviously we, cage-free humans, have not been “singled out to develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease,” therefore caffeine isn’t going to be the “one thing” that will reverse or prevent it.

Our body is an exquisite, involved system that is based on homeostasis (balance). It makes sense, then, that good health has more to do with a healthy, balanced attitude towards living, rather than our being briefly convinced by the latest health study and “doing” or “overdoing” one particular thing in the hope that it will reverse all of the other over-indulgent and unwholesome things we have done to our bodies.

As a chiropractor, I believe that every moment of the day we have an opportunity to make healthy choices for our body, to decide what will assist us to live longer, healthier lives. We know what truly “feels” life enriching and what doesn’t when it comes to what is good for our body. So, I just wanted to pass along a little something for you to keep in mind the next time you consider having that extra cup of coffee or second glass of red wine. Neither one of those things is the “one thing” that will do “everything” for your age-related health issues.

Technorati Tags: age-related health issues, caffeine, chiropractor, health, longevity, red wine