ergo-log.com

Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "

07.08.2018

An active lifestyle doubles the chance that you will still be perfectly healthy 10 years from now

If you are healthy now, you probably want you be still healthy 10 years from now. Well, the chance of a perfect health in ten years depends to a large extent on your lifestyle. According to Australian epidemiologists at the University of Sydney, a lifestyle with a lot of exercise can double your chances of perfect health in 10 years. But 'a lot' in this case is really 'a lot'...

Study
The researchers used data from 1,584 adults collected in the Blue Mountains Eye Study. When this study started, the study participants were 50 or older - and healthy.

The researchers followed them for 10 years, and examined, among other things, whether the participants had died [one extreme] or 'successfully outdated' [the other extreme]. Those who 'aged successfully' became older without suffering from "depressive symptoms, disability, cognitive impairment, respiratory symptoms and systemic conditions (eg cancer, coronary artery disease)".

Only 16 percent of the study participants aged successfully, we can already reveal.

Then the researchers looked to see if there was a link between the chance of successful aging and physical activity.

Results
The more the study participants exercised, the greater the chance that they were completely healthy ten years later. Click on the figure below for a more readable version.

The researchers expressed the amount of physical exercise in MET minutes per week. If you move a minute with an intensity where you use 2 times more energy than if you do nothing, then that is 2 MET minutes. Exercising with moderate intensity, half an hour per day, 5 days a week, amounts to 600 MET minutes per week.

But this amount of exercise is not enough to double your chances of 'successful aging'. For that you need roughly 8 times more exercise. The optimal amount of exercise would amount to 3 hours of quiet cycling per day. That is a lot. If you do intensive forms of exercise, then the amount of time you lose is considerably less.

The table below we have borrowed from Wikipedia.

Conclusion
"Epidemiological data from the current study aligns with findings of a recent systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis, [BMJ 2016;354:i3857.] which showed that a higher level of total physical activity is strongly associated with a lower risk of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke with most health gains occurring at a total activity level of 3000-4000 MET minutes/week", write the researchers.

"These previous findings as well as our data suggest that levels of physical activity need to be several times higher than the WHO recommended minimum level of 600 MET minutes/week for larger reductions in the risk of chronic diseases, and consequently to achieve a successful aging status in the longer term."

"Some older adults may not be able to engage in vigorous activity or very high levels of physical activity, however, at the population level there is a spectrum of capability to perform physical activity at an older age. Therefore, it has been suggested that a population strategy be adopted where the population distribution of physical activity is shifted rather than focusing solely on high-risk subgroups in the community."

"The population strategy to promote physical activity among older adults should be to get those who are inactive to do some physical activity and those who currently only engage in moderate activity to incorporate more vigorous activity if feasible."

Source:
Sci Rep. 2018 Jul 12;8(1):10522.

More:
Walking at brisk pace is healthier 04.06.2018
Do you want to live longer? Leave your house every day/a> 30.11.2017
1998: walk a couple of kilometres a day and halve your chance of dying 13.10.2017

Archives:
Longevity

Lifestyle with lots of exercise makes you nine years younger People who get lots of exercise are molecularly speaking nine years younger than people who don't exercise at all or only get a little or moderate amount.	Half an hour exercise a day? Make that three hours... The exercise related guidelines are on the low side, epidemiologists at the University of Washington report in the BMJ.	The muscles you are growing now may save your life later If you ever have to undergo major surgery, your muscle mass will determine whether you will get complications - and whether you survive.