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Too many good things can definitely be bad for us. But a new study published Friday in the JAMA Network Open suggests that exercise is an obvious exception. It turns out that any level of cardiovascular fitness, including that of elite athletes, is related to staying alive longer.
This exercise is universally good for our health, it sounds like obvious, of course. But over the past few years, it has been proven that elite athletes and other heavy exercise enthusiasts could paradoxically be more prone to certain heart disease than the average, such as an irregular heartbeat, clogged arteries and thicker heart valves. And these conditions can then increase the risk of sudden cardiac death or other heart problems for an athlete.
Based on this evidence, some researchers have hypothesized that the negative effects of physical exercise follow a U-shaped curve, where too much and too little can damage the heart and shorten our lives. Much of this previous research was based on self-reported data, though or focusing only on short-term health outcomes, according to the authors of this study.
They therefore decided to analyze the long-term data from their own medical center, the Cleveland Clinic. They examined more than 120,000 patients (their average age was 53) who had undergone a treadmill test at the clinic between 1994 and 2014. The results of the test gave researchers an objective measure of overall physical condition of a person. Then, with the help of Social Security records and medical records, they followed up if and when the patients had died.
By the end of 2017, about 13,500 people had died. And overall, the authors found that the more fit a person was, the less likely they were to be sent to a grave early. And while the exercise rescue effects were beginning to fade, elite athletes being only slightly more resistant to death than the very active people, the researchers discovered that there was "no upper limit of benefits".
"These results underscore the importance of aerobic fitness in overall health," the authors said.
Elite athletes certainly seem to live longer than everyone else, on average. The authors estimated that, compared to those who were least fit, elite fitness was associated with an 80% reduction in mortality risk. And the effects of elite exercises have been particularly profound in the elderly and hypertensive people. But that does not mean that the exercise is reserved for people who hope to run a marathon.
Other research has shown that any regular physical activity would help you in the long run not only to prolong your life, but to improve the quality of recent days. And in this study, even people with below-average fitness levels were much less likely to die than those with the worst physical condition. Overall, the authors felt that a poor physical condition increased the risk of death to the same degree or more than other major risk factors, such as cardiovascular disease or smoking.
So yes, the more exercise you can do, the better. But do not blame yourself for doing as much power as you can by walking or climbing the steps.
[JAMA Network Open]Source link
