Exercise May Help Improve Life Expectancy!
Download PDFIt is no secret that exercising will improve your health and overall quality of life. But did you know it may actually help you live longer?
Not exercising is now being recognized as a serious health threat, and CNN alongside the Cleveland Clinic has gone as far as recently announcing that a sedentary lifestyle can be more detrimental to your health than smoking, diabetes, and heart disease!
A recent study explored the association between long-term mortality and various levels of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF). CRF is a measure of how well your heart and lungs pump blood and oxygen throughout the body during prolonged bouts of exercise. The researchers looked at over 122,000 patients at a large academic medical center who underwent exercise testing on a treadmill, an objective measure of CRF. Similar to findings of many previous studies, being fit was associated with living longer. This held true at any age, from 18-80. The researchers also saw a relationship between CRF and survival rates: the higher the level of fitness, the higher the survival rate. The more fit you are, the higher your level of CRF. Regular exercise, and vigorous exercise, can both boost CRF.
How can you get more exercise?
Here are a few places to start:
- Exercise safely first. Be cautious when approaching a new workout routine or when exercising, especially if you have a cardiovascular or medical condition. Coming back from injury is also another reason to exercise with caution.
- Start small and set realistic goals for yourself. Getting 150 minutes of exercise isn’t as easy as it sounds. Don’t shoot to lose 30lbs. Shoot to lose 10lbs and build yourself from there.
- Plan ahead, otherwise you won’t do it! Time is the number one deterrence of people from exercising, so if you don’t plan accordingly it won’t happen!
- Challenge yourself! I say this with the most experienced athletes, to the most basic beginners. You will not progress if you don’t challenge yourself.
- Support groups and workout partners are a great way to help keep yourself motivated and can make exercise more fun and enjoyable!
Sources: www.health.harvard.edu/blog/can-exercise-extend-your-life-2019031316207 www.cnn.com/2018/10/19/health/study-not-exercising-worse-than-smoking/index.html
