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26.06.2014

Diehards who hardly ever miss fitness training sessions live longer

The fewer training sessions you skip, the better fitness is for your health. According to a not-so-recent American study, in which researchers studied over 65s who did fitness, the mortality risk for regular athletes is much lower than for those who do fitness but miss lots of workouts.

Study
In 2002 researchers at Duke University published the results of a study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, in which they had followed 135 over 65s for 6 months to 10 years. All participants were part of a fitness programme that had been set up specially for older military personnel.

The programme consisted of three supervised training sessions of 60-90 minutes each week. The workouts consisted of cardio training, floor exercises and strength training using weights and machines.

Most participants were sick, suffering from chronic ailments such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes or precursors, overweight, arthritis, Parkinson's, cancer, back problems, anaemia, fibromyalgia or depression.

The researchers determined how often the participants attended a training session. Participants who attended less than 47 of the 78 sessions in a period of six months were given the label 'non-adherence'. Participants who attended more than 47 sessions were labelled 'adherence'.

Results
When the researchers also examined which participants had died during the 10-year period, they saw that the survival chances of the adherence group were several dozen percent higher than those of the non-adherence group.

The researchers corrected their data for a number of factors including the participants' baseline health status. So it's not the case that faithful fitness training attendance was a consequence of better health among the participants and that the participants in the adherence group therefore had better survival chances.

Conclusion
"In summary, in a sample of older adults with chronic disease, many at high risk for sudden death, a protective survival benefit of long-term exercise adherence was found", the researchers summarise.

"In light of reported trends toward physical inactivity in the past decade, it is important that health practitioners be aware of the value of long-term exercise maintenance and assume the role of advocate with patients and colleagues."

Source:
J Am Geriatr Soc. 2002 Dec;50(12):1929-33.

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