While physical activity is just one component of developing fitness--the others include overall health and genetic predisposition--exercise is essential.
The ideal amount, says Jonathan Myers, Ph.D., a co-author of the ACSM study and a health research scientist at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System in northern California, is a half-hour of moderate-intense activity five days of the week. Even better is an hour of exercise most days of the week.
When Myers and his co-authors separated their 4,300 participants into different fitness quintiles and studied them for nearly 20 years, the ones that performed the best reached that five-hour-a-week threshold. Those with the poorest fitness had a three-fold increase in overall mortality risk; 170 participants in this category died of all causes while only 55 in the highest quintile died.
"We've been chasing this for the last 20 years or so," Myers says of the results, "and we've seen it over and over again." Fifty years of epidemiological studies, he says, have demonstrated that people who are more fit or are more physically active have lower mortality rates.
A study published last week in the British Medical Journal found a similar correlation between weight gain and maintaining optimal health into old age. Of the 17,000 women who participated in the 20-year observational study, those who were overweight at age 18 and gained more than 22 pounds by 50 had the worst odds for optimal health. For every 11 pounds gained during that time, the chances for "healthy survival" decreased by 5%.
But it’s never too late to start exercising. Myers' research shows that there are tremendous benefits to be had for the worst-off individuals who can change their ways. When the co-authors compared the least-fit group to the next least-fit group, they noticed a striking difference: The two-fold increase in mortality risk was predominantly due to variations in physical activity, not other risk factors like hypertension and diabetes.
"We don't know yet why exercise has such protective benefits," says Myers, "but your fitness level can outperform the traditional risk factors"--such as smoking and high blood pressure--"in predicting mortality."
The ideal amount, says Jonathan Myers, Ph.D., a co-author of the ACSM study and a health research scientist at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System in northern California, is a half-hour of moderate-intense activity five days of the week. Even better is an hour of exercise most days of the week.
When Myers and his co-authors separated their 4,300 participants into different fitness quintiles and studied them for nearly 20 years, the ones that performed the best reached that five-hour-a-week threshold. Those with the poorest fitness had a three-fold increase in overall mortality risk; 170 participants in this category died of all causes while only 55 in the highest quintile died.
"We've been chasing this for the last 20 years or so," Myers says of the results, "and we've seen it over and over again." Fifty years of epidemiological studies, he says, have demonstrated that people who are more fit or are more physically active have lower mortality rates.
A study published last week in the British Medical Journal found a similar correlation between weight gain and maintaining optimal health into old age. Of the 17,000 women who participated in the 20-year observational study, those who were overweight at age 18 and gained more than 22 pounds by 50 had the worst odds for optimal health. For every 11 pounds gained during that time, the chances for "healthy survival" decreased by 5%.
But it’s never too late to start exercising. Myers' research shows that there are tremendous benefits to be had for the worst-off individuals who can change their ways. When the co-authors compared the least-fit group to the next least-fit group, they noticed a striking difference: The two-fold increase in mortality risk was predominantly due to variations in physical activity, not other risk factors like hypertension and diabetes.
"We don't know yet why exercise has such protective benefits," says Myers, "but your fitness level can outperform the traditional risk factors"--such as smoking and high blood pressure--"in predicting mortality."
Content Provided by forbes.com
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