Posts Tagged ‘longevity’
October 13th, 2009 | 
Author: “Next to last” isn’t exactly a phrase we affiliate with success. In point of fact, very few things in life, it seems, count much at all if you don’t “hit a bull’s eye.” Fortunately, this may not be absolutely true when it comes to living longer. As a family chiropractor who has many older patients and who is also fully dedicated to encouraging my patients to exercise at every age level, I was very interested in the following study.
Researchers found that of the “least-fit” versus the “slightly more fit” of the nearly 4,400 healthy U.S. adults in their recent study, roughly 20 percent with the lowest physical fitness levels were twice as likely to die over the next nine years as the 20 percent with the next-lowest fitness levels. (To put it another way, those 20 percent who were almost at the lowest fitness levels.) This is the familiar “bad news/good news” situation. It is obviously bad news if you are a resolute sofa spud. But, it is undoubtedly good news for those who haven’t completely embraced a sedentary lifestyle but are not, by any means, energetic. Apparently, those people who continue to be just moderately fit as they age may have a longer lifespan than those who are completely out-of-shape, the study suggests.
Between 1986 and 2006, researchers assessed the fitness levels of 4,384 middle-aged and senior adults during exercise treatmill tests. For an average of nine years thereafter, the researchers pursued the study groups progress. The study considered such factors like obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes. This, in and of itself, highlights the significants of being physically fit. In an email to Reuters Health, Dr. Sandra Mandic, of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, and lead researcher of the study wrote: “Our findings suggest that a sedentary lifestyle, rather than differences in cardiovascular risk factors or age, may explain the two-fold higher mortality rates in the least-fit versus slightly more fit individuals.”
Nearly two-thirds of the participants at the least-fit level failed to get at least 30 minutes of moderate activity, five or more days a week, which was the minimum recommended amount of exercise. “These results emphasize the importance of improving and maintaining high fitness levels by engaging in regular physical activity,” Mandic said, “particularly in poorly-fit individuals.”
Classifying the study group participants by fitness levels, the researchers found that 25 percent of the least-fit men and women had died during the study period, as opposed to 13 percent of those who were in slightly better shape. Only 6 percent of the most-fit group (i.e., the ones who “hit a bull’s eye,” so to speak) had died during the follow-up period.
The five fitness-level groups presented little difference, overall, in their reported exercise practices during most of their adult lives, but significantly, they varied in activity levels only in recent years. “Since it is recent physical activity that offers protection,” Mandic said, “it is important to maintain regular physical activity throughout life.”
In this particular study, irrespective of weight and other health problems such as those mentioned above, fitness is undeniably linked to longevity. Therefore, exercise is crucial to extending our lifespan. And, naturally, just think of the health advantages we could all obtain if we worked our way up into the higher levels of fitness.
SOURCE: Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, August 2009.
Last week I found an article on sciencedaily.com how caffeine improved memory loss in aged mice raised to develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. The article began with the tease that “Coffee drinkers may have another reason to pour that extra cup.” It continued by reporting on back-to-back studies published online July 6 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease that showed that caffeine notably decreased abnormal levels of the protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease, both in the brains and in the blood of mice that had developed symptoms of the disease.
However, before you opt to add an extra cup of coffee to your morning ritual, I’d also add that under “Related Stories” on the website were a couple of articles regarding studies that demonstrated the non-beneficial effects of caffeine, “Morning Jolt of Caffeine May Mask Serious Sleep Problems,” and “Coffee Consumption Linked To Increased Risk Of Heart Attack For Persons With Certain Gene Variation.”
Almost any angle of thought, it seems to me, especially when it comes to health and longevity, can be affirmed, or at least supported, by a number of specific studies. The “good/bad” studies related to caffeine certainly aren’t, of course, the only ones. Nonetheless, it did get me to thinking about the probability that there will never be just “one thing” that will irrefutably help we, humans, to live longer, healthier lives. We are dynamic, biological beings. We aren’t raised in unnatural confinement We are actively engaged in life. And, let’s face it, though Alzheimer’s disease may be on the rise, obviously no one has been “artificially induced to develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease,” therefore caffeine isn’t entirely the “one thing” that is going to prevent or reverse it.
Our body is a splendid, complex system that is based on homeostasis or balance. It is likely, then, that good health is cultivated by a healthy, balanced way of living, instead of our being blindly convinced by the latest health study and “doing” or “overdoing” one specific thing in the hope that it will reverse all of the other over-indulgent and harmful things we have done to our bodies.
I believe, as a doctor of chiropractic, that every moment of the day we have an opportunity to make decisions that will help us to live longer, healthier lives, healthy choices for our body and mind. When it comes to what is good for our body, we know what truly “feels” right and what doesn’t. So, I just wanted to pass along some thoughts for you to keep in mind the next time you consider having that extra cup of coffee or second glass of red wine. There is no “one thing” that will do “everything” for your age-related health issues.
Posted in chiropractor | 
Tags: age-related health issues, caffeine, chiropractor, health, longevity, red wine | 
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