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Medicine

Not Exercising Worse For Your Health Than Smoking, Diabetes and Heart Disease, Study Reveals (cnn.com) 213

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNN: We've all heard exercise helps you live longer. But a new study [published in the journal JAMA Network Open] goes one step further, finding that a sedentary lifestyle is worse for your health than smoking, diabetes and heart disease. Researchers retrospectively studied 122,007 patients who underwent exercise treadmill testing at Cleveland Clinic between January 1, 1991 and December 31, 2014 to measure all-cause mortality relating to the benefits of exercise and fitness. Those with the lowest exercise rate accounted for 12% of the participants. Dr. Wael Jaber, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic and senior author of the study, said the other big revelation from the research is that fitness leads to longer life, with no limit to the benefit of aerobic exercise. Researchers have always been concerned that "ultra" exercisers might be at a higher risk of death, but the study found that not to be the case. "There is no level of exercise or fitness that exposes you to risk," he said. "We can see from the study that the ultra-fit still have lower mortality."
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Not Exercising Worse For Your Health Than Smoking, Diabetes and Heart Disease, Study Reveals

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  • Worked for me (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MikeDataLink ( 536925 ) on Sunday October 21, 2018 @03:30PM (#57514260) Homepage Journal

    I had high blood pressure, borderline blood sugar levels, anxiety, and a big belly.

    I started an evening exercise routine, lost 30 lbs. Blood pressure is perfect, blood sugar normal, anxiety gone, and my pants fit again.

    • by tmark ( 230091 )

      What was your exercise program like ? I understood the # of minutes you need to exercise per week to reap cardiovascular benefits, for instance, was pretty large.

      • Re:Worked for me (Score:5, Informative)

        by MikeDataLink ( 536925 ) on Sunday October 21, 2018 @03:43PM (#57514318) Homepage Journal

        What was your exercise program like ?

        Super simple.

        I walk-jog about 30-45 minutes at least 3-4 days a week.
        I do very light weight training with dumbells 3-4 days a week.

        Nothing more. I also significantly reduced my calorie intake by cutting junkfood mostly.

        • Re:Worked for me (Score:4, Interesting)

          by F.Ultra ( 1673484 ) on Sunday October 21, 2018 @04:00PM (#57514390)

          I also significantly reduced my calorie intake by cutting junkfood mostly.

          Not that it's not great that you exercise but the real answer to you feeling better is what you did here. Weight loss (which mostly comes from calorie restriction and not exercise, however exercise is great for many other things) is THE major indicator for improving health vitals in all studies.

          • by Anonymous Coward

            IMO and IMEXP (in my experience), exercising almost automatically makes people eat better. I guess these two mindsets often go together because they form a lifestyle change.

          • Re:Worked for me (Score:5, Insightful)

            by arth1 ( 260657 ) on Sunday October 21, 2018 @07:03PM (#57514886) Homepage Journal

            Weight loss (which mostly comes from calorie restriction and not exercise, however exercise is great for many other things)

            I hear this a lot, and it's false. People look for easy solutions and excuses, and it's a heck of a lot easier to do a diet than change your lifestyle, and this is an excuse for doing just that. But it's not true.
            Calorific deficit is what causes weight loss.
            If you do it through diet, chances are you lose both fat and muscle, and the deficit cannot be all that large or you'll get other deficiency problems. And at any rate, you cannot eat less than zero.
            If you do it through exercise, you'll only lose fat, not muscle, and the deficit can be as high as you push it.

            The reason I can state with certainty that you can lose weight (and more importantly, fat) through exercise and not calorie restriction is that I did it. It was simple maths: I burned around 1500 kcal a day if doing nothing, and no safe diet would be under 1000 kcal a day (and even that's pushing it). So that would be a 500 kcal deficit per day. But if I started exercising, burning 3000 kcal a day, without changing my calorie intake, that would be a 1500 kcal deficit per day.
            The path was clear, and it worked beautifully.

            The main problem was all the times people asked what diet I was on, and how they wouldn't believe me when I told them "none", because of the old wives' tale that weight loss starts in the kitchen and is 80% diet. It's a bloody lie that people use as an excuse for not getting off the couch.

            Now I am lean and no longer lose weight, but I continue exercising and simply eat more to keep my weight.

            • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

              by Anonymous Coward

              A pack of crackers I just checked has 480 kcal per 100 gram. 100 grams of crackers is nothing, they can be eaten within 5 minutes in front of TV without even noticing. Good luck burning it in 5 minutes.

              Burning 3000 kcal per day is relatively difficult. It takes time and effort. Eating 3000 kcal is very easy. It is "rewarding", eating makes us feel good due to evolutionary reasons. It is not even expensive. Exercises provide significant benefits but to claim that they make diet unnecessary is obviously dumb.

            • by DogDude ( 805747 )
              and no safe diet would be under 1000 kcal a day (and even that's pushing it)

              What does this mean? Why couldn't you just eat less than 1000 kcal/day?
              • It's dangerous if done for any extended period of time. The body needs a certain amount of power to run and without that it will start to break down or damage itself. The brain takes huge amounts of power on its own and I wouldn't recommend starving it. Sure fat stores are used to make up some of the difference but it is much harder for the body to burn fat for energy than food. You'll probably just feel like shit and be too lazy and exercise and too groggy to think straight.
            • I have to drop the amount of exercise I do to keep my weight constant. Otherwise I just shed weight. I struggle to keep my weight at my target goal, I am currently below target (again) so I have not gone to gym in a couple weeks. I have family members who struggle with obesity, so it's not like I am unfamiliar with the scenario, but for me losing weight is easy, putting it on is a problem. I typically eat until I am no longer hungry, I don't eat until I can burst, if I still have food on my plate after
            • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

              Comment removed based on user account deletion
          • by e3m4n ( 947977 ) on Sunday October 21, 2018 @07:34PM (#57514974)

            cardio doesn't directly help you lose weight by burning calories. Mathematically the 600 calories you burn in a workout doesn't add up to the weight you lose each week. However, it does increase your metabolism so that your basic metabolic rate increases, thereby burning more calories when your not working out also. Similarly by increasing your muscle mass also helps increase your BMR.

            • Wha?? As an endurance cyclist, what exactly is allowing me to ride 2-6hrs other than calories? Of course you burn calories through cardio. Otherwise every endurance athlete on the planet would be the most obese people there are due to the amount we eat.

              Further, I believe the opposite of what you say is true - as you become more fit, your BMR actually decreases, because your body becomes more efficient. (At the same time, you also gain the ability to burn more calories through exercise/cardio because you can

          • by fazig ( 2909523 )
            I call bullshit on this one. If you cut your calories you'll lose weight. Sure, that in itself isn't a bad thing. But if you don't exercise your muscles, which of course includes your cardiovascular system, you still won't get the necessary training we humans evolved for.
            Face it, our biology did not develop over tens of thousands of years for sitting around most of the time. Storing excess energy in the form of triglyceride now and then is part of that surviving strategy. Keeping energy stored that way app
            • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

              by Powercntrl ( 458442 )

              Face it, our biology did not develop over tens of thousands of years for sitting around most of the time.

              You'd think this would be something they could fix with genetic engineering by looking at feline DNA. Cats are lazy as fuck and seem no worse for it.

              • by fazig ( 2909523 )
                Perhaps.
                But that may not remove the need for at least some exercise while also involve changing our diet as well. Higher carbohydrate intake for example has also been linked to diabetes mellitus in cats. This of course usually doesn't happen in their natural environment, where they mostly are carnivorous. For this they seem to have evolved one of the most efficient digestive system. But we humans put extra carbs in their food to increase caloric value at a low cost. At least that's what I've noticed the la
              • There are some genetic conditions that lead to massive muscle growth. Even as children they are shredded. Sounds great in theory but I don't think I want to live in a world where every idiot is as strong as a gorilla even if I also am.
          • is THE major indicator for improving health vitals in all studies.

            You know the problems with claims like this, you make an absolute declaration without understanding any of the variables involved. There is no "THE major". There is only a balance and finding out what it is that people are missing.

            You can be a super healthy low calorie eater, and if all you do is waste away watching Netflix you will have health problems.
            You can be a sporty person cycling to work on a daily basis, and if all you eat is cheeseburgers for every meal you will have health problems.

        • My own formula: two days of strenuous hiking every week.

        • Super simple.

          I walk-jog about 30-45 minutes at least 3-4 days a week.
          I do very light weight training with dumbells 3-4 days a week.

          Nothing more. I also significantly reduced my calorie intake by cutting junkfood mostly.

          And the result was because of the exercise, not the significant reduction in calorie intake, right?

          (facepalm)

      • Re:Worked for me (Score:5, Interesting)

        by alvinrod ( 889928 ) on Sunday October 21, 2018 @04:38PM (#57514502)
        I've heard the opposite and that it actually takes pathetically little effort to get a large amount of benefit, as in 15 minutes of brisk walking each day and it's going to have an impact. This has even been previously covered on Slashdot [slashdot.org].

        If you want to look like Mr. Universe or something like that, obviously you'll need to do a substantial daily workout, but basic health benefits don't require all that much. Just because you don't look like a gym rat doesn't mean that you're completely unhealthy. The minimum amount of exercise might not let you run a marathon in anything approaching a good time, but it will mean you live longer and will probably be happier as well.
      • by arth1 ( 260657 )

        What was your exercise program like ? I understood the # of minutes you need to exercise per week to reap cardiovascular benefits, for instance, was pretty large.

        The average American watches TV for five and a half hours a day. If reducing that to half and using the extra time for aerobic exercise, it's more than enough to stay quite fit.

        Since last winter, I now exercise 1-2 hours a day, plus 1-2 hours of walking for the sake of walking. This has transformed me from a blob with plenty of physical problems into a lean healthy person. Compared to the time I used to spend watching TV or play video games, it's not much.

        But true, each session has to be long enough to r

        • by e3m4n ( 947977 )

          the most benefits happen once you reach 45min per session. I always say when you feel like you hit a wall, keep going, in about 10min you get your 'second wind' and thats where every minute you put into your workout has the most benefit. You're now using slow twitch red muscle fibers that are self oxidizing and burn fat and not glucose for energy. Developing these muscles has a huge effect on your Basic Metabolic Rate

    • for most slashdotters that means they could die a virgin after a very looooong sexually frustrated life.

    • I am trying to duplicate this. The older you get the harder it gets to get weight off.

      The wakeup call was Stage 2 Hypertension. I never had a history of high blood pressure until very recently. The Dr wants me to take meds for it. Screw that I am getting fit again and then let's see.

      Intermittent fasting and high-intensity interval training for me. So far so good I'm down about 3 kilos.

      It helps to read good-outcome stories like t his.

      • Could also be a vitamine B2 issue, depening on certain genetic anomalies. If your weight is down and you still have it, and the meds don't work, try the vitamine.

      • by mspohr ( 589790 )

        Good to choose exercise and weight loss rather than meds. You BP should recover to normal as your weight goes down. Also, watch your salt intake. Keep it less than 2000 mg/day. (A good rule of thumb is to look at the nutrition labels. If the mg of sodium is less than the number of calories in a serving, you'll be below 2000 mg a day.)
        Intermittent fasting has shown good benefits. You can fast from dinner one day until dinner the next without too much difficulty and it really improves health.

      • by arth1 ( 260657 )

        The older you get the harder it gets to get weight off.

        I have to disagree with that.
        The older you get, the more spare time you usually have, which can be put to good use for exercise. And also, the older you get, the less you feel hunger.
        There are plenty skinny older people. In fact, being underweight is far more of a problem for the elderly. Part of the explanation is likely that a lot of the fatter ones die young and don't become elderly at all, but from what I can tell, people don't get fat when they retire, they get fat well before then, and many of the

        • by MemeRot ( 80975 )

          Older != elderly

          It's harder to lose weight in your 30s than in your 20s, harder in your 40s than in your 30s

      • by e3m4n ( 947977 )

        as StCreed said, make sure your nutrient intake is good, supplement with vitamins. Also make sure youre drinking 64+ oz of water a day. The more water you drink, the less your body feels like it needs to hold onto.

    • and my pants fit again

      Don't you replace pants from time to time, and toss away or donate (damaged/fine) old ones when they are no longer good for you?

      Weight is not volatile enough for this to be a problem. If you don't have your own data, you can look at mine [angband.pl]. I did rapidly lose 9kg recently, and all it meant was belt no longer being optional with old pants, a single hole tighter.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Different details, but similar story here. 62, 5'11, lost 50 pounds through diet and every-other-day exercise (doing every day gets tough on the old bones are you age). I feel almost like being 30 again, which is probably somewhat the weight, and somewhat adding muscle. I'm trim and thin now, where I used to pack a beer gut and had borderline high BP. Now I watch the 25 year olds take the elevator to go up 5 floors while I take the steps two at a time.

      You feel better in the end, but it takes a while to

    • by e3m4n ( 947977 )

      I find cardio in the morning does a great job of setting your activity level and metabolism for the rest of the day. Even on days you feel like shit, if you can get in 30-45min of cardio in the morning, you'll feel better. for those of us with blood sugar issues, cutting out grains (barley, wheat, oats, rice, corn, rye, etc) made a huge impact on insulin resistance.

    • I had high blood pressure ( ... ) I also significantly reduced my calorie intake by cutting junkfood mostly

      High blood pressure is really hard to lower (especially for older people, which, given your id, is, hum, likely to be the case). Junk food was probably the worse factor here.

  • by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Sunday October 21, 2018 @03:33PM (#57514280)

    Oh.

  • by c6gunner ( 950153 ) on Sunday October 21, 2018 @03:48PM (#57514334) Homepage

    I've thought about quitting smoking, but I always figured my lack of exercise would kill me long before the smoking did. Now I have scientific proof that my theory was sound! Thank you, JAMA, for setting my mind at ease!

    • Nicotine creates a negative feedback loop. It suppresses thyroid function, which causes depressions and a general feeling of malaise, along with the expected weight gain.

      If you give up nicotine you'll find that life overall become much more enjoyable. Get frequent blood tests, including free T3 and free T4 levels. If not already in the middle of the normal range, get them there. Stop smoking first, they might get there on their own. TSH is next to worthless - personal issue, long back story.

      Get a puppy

      • by MemeRot ( 80975 )

        I don't get your first comment at all. Smoking lowers appetite. People typically gain a lot of weight when they quit. So, what expected weight gain from smoking is there? It's a mild stimulant, not a depressant

    • by Anonymous Coward

      I quit smoking, stopped eating junk food, didn't drink and gave up on promiscuous sex.

      Worst 15minutes of my life.

    • If you can, try switching to a pipe or cigars instead of cigarettes. If you pick decent quality cigars, or a brand of pipe tobacco that actually has some flavor to it (Not, let's say, Captain Black [wikipedia.org]!) you won't need to inhale, just draw the smoke into your mouth (AKA "puffing") because most of the damage comes from drawing it into your lings.
  • by IGnatius T Foobar ( 4328 ) on Sunday October 21, 2018 @04:19PM (#57514428) Homepage Journal
    Seriously ... what if I don't *want* to have a long life? There are a lot of old people out there who are bored, lonely, and too healthy to have any hope of dying anytime soon. That's a worse fate than having a decent life and then dying before it starts to suck. I'm 47 now, and everything is fantastic -- family, career, home, etc. Ideally, I would like to die at 52, but I'd like to have unlimited 5-year extensions available. I don't want to find myself sitting around at 80 with nothing to do and wishing I was dead. I'd rather *be* dead.
    • It's your fault (Score:5, Insightful)

      by DogDude ( 805747 ) on Sunday October 21, 2018 @04:27PM (#57514468)
      The world is an infinitely interesting place that you and I will never have any idea of understanding a fraction of it. If you're bored, that's your problem. Pick something to do and quit being such a pussy.
      • I was more bored in my 30s than I am now nearing 60. My main issue now is not enough time to do much. Maybe I'll get bored again after I retire, but right now I don't have time to get bored.

    • I know a guy who's 84 now and still working. I don't think he ever plans to retire. And in case you think "working" means "greeter at Walmart", he actually does financial analysis and forecasting for large golf courses.

      If I live that long, I want to be like him.

      • But does he go out twice a week to do 18 holes without a golf cart? No? Then he is like most of today's golfers, a vanishing breed. Easy to forecast that: lose millions a year as the clubhouse falls into ruins then sell at a fantastic loss to a subdivision developer. He's good to go.

    • by Misagon ( 1135 ) on Sunday October 21, 2018 @04:56PM (#57514548)

      The point is not to become old.
      The point is to be healthy when you have become old.

      It is when you have realised that you will never be able to do the things that you want to do that you wish you'd rather be dead.

      • by Kjella ( 173770 )

        The point is not to become old. The point is to be healthy when you have become old. It is when you have realised that you will never be able to do the things that you want to do that you wish you'd rather be dead.

        Being in good shape for an 80yo is not the same as being 50yo or 20yo. And not all ailments of age like bad sight or bad hearing have anything to do with exercise. In professional sports you usually retire in your 30s, if I wanted to win an Olympic gold at anything it's probably already too late. We all have to come to terms with aging, I'm not saying you should quit taking care of your body but if you are living super healthy and dull now thinking you'll be living it up later maybe you should invest less i

    • one day. But it's not usually like that. You'll feel the negative health affects (and the included pain) long before you're dead. Nobody likes hearing granpa complain about his aches and pains though so you don't hear much about it.
    • Life's been a blast for me since... well since I was 24 or so. I've not been bored since I was 19. Dead at 52?! Fuck that, I've had too much fun in that last few years since I passed my 52nd birthday. I figure 85 is a better number but if something goes haywire before that, it's time for hookers, coke, booze, & a fast death. I can't wait to retire!
    • by mspohr ( 589790 )

      The problem with an early death is that it's usually from some debilitating chronic disease that makes you miserable for years before you die. It's one thing to get hit by a train at 52. It's another thing to spend 5 years in pain before you die at 52.

      • I've already decided that when I go, I want to get shot by a jealous husband after boffing his wife. Quick, painless, and after a good time.

    • what if I don't *want* to have a long life?

      Just don't run up my insurance premiums with your self-destructive habits, ok? Please just take up proximity flying instead, the cost of scraping you off a cliff face should not be too much.

      • by arth1 ( 260657 ) on Sunday October 21, 2018 @07:26PM (#57514950) Homepage Journal

        Just don't run up my insurance premiums with your self-destructive habits, ok?

        If he dies young, he probably won't. The health insurance payout per person per year grows exponentially with age, and your premium is high chiefly because of those who live long disease-ridden lives and spend years at nursing facilities.

        I think every person who retires should be given a Dodge Demon and a case of Scotch, paid for by the health insurance company. It would be cheaper.

        • The health insurance payout per person per year grows exponentially with age, and your premium is high chiefly because blah blah blah

          I take it you don't have a family.

          • by arth1 ( 260657 )

            I take it you don't have a family.

            Sure I do, and I don't want to become a burden on them. So when I am no longer a net benefit to the family, I want to go back to non-existence.

            • I hope that you understand that you have to pay insurance for your family, and self-destructive clowns like OP run up the cost of that, never mind your old-age costs, competing with barns full of burned out obese smokers on life support who never deserved to get that old, and only did so by paying with your insurance dollars.

            • when I am no longer a net benefit to the family, I want to go back to non-existence.

              You know what? You're just saying that to avoid admitting your own selfishness. When it comes to the crunch you will opt for the expensive meds and procedures, anybody else's interest be damned. Seen too many of your ilk.

        • by MemeRot ( 80975 )

          It's not a joke, smokers and the obese cost less for insurance due to dying earlier https://www.nytimes.com/2008/0... [nytimes.com] Smokers cost almost $100,000 less to insurance over a (shorter) lifetime

    • Seriously ... what if I don't *want* to have a long life?

      You still want to be totally healthy while you are living it, you can always take the exit anytime you like if you truly feel that way... you don't have to get too old before you start to suffer the effects of lack of exercise.

      But if you are in great shape I don't see how it is possible to be bored and lonely when you are old. There are countless places you could go, countless groups to join, countless experiences to have. As long as you are health

    • If you get tired of being alive, just throw yourself off a tall cliff and your problem will be gone. It's not difficult, and it's much more fun than heart disease or stroke.

    • by sad_ ( 7868 )

      because you won't just drop dead from one day to another.
      your life conditions will worsen over time before you actually die, making you even more miserable then you already are before reaching the end.

    • Seriously ... what if I don't *want* to have a long life?

      Can you off yourself by inhaling your tailpipe without becoming a long and drawn out burden on the medical and social security systems?

      Okay that was a joke but there's a hint of actual seriousness in there, dying slowly from medical issues would be a shitty way to go.

  • Well yeah... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Dartz-IRL ( 1640117 )

    But you know what.

    After ten hours at a desk all day I just stopped caring because all the other happy robot people were so insulting by smiling at me and saying why don't you just run?

    I sleep. I work. I wait to go to work.

    Ain't that hateful.

    • by mspohr ( 589790 )

      Probably good to get a standing desk. Sitting for hours is really bad for your health. Standing while working at your desk is much healthier.

    • Running sucks balls. I've never liked running. I can tolerate a little bit of sports in the spring/fall, but summer is too hot and winter is too cold. And running for the sake of running....I'll never understand people who do that. I guess I've never gotten a runner's high from it, so it's all just 100% suckage for me.

      What worked for me was spending a lot of money on a personal trainer. 30 minutes of circuit training twice a week, and that's it. I'm paying for my time and my health. The first six months wer

  • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 21, 2018 @05:21PM (#57514626)

    "There is no level of exercise or fitness that exposes you to risk,"

    Spoken like a true statistician. However, the statement is provably false. Rhabdomyolysis in the Crossfit community is a thing. There are levels of exercise that expose you to risk, however extreme they might be. The fact that putting yourself into a "group" that is statistically healthier does not mean you are risk-free. That statement just strikes me as completely moronic, though I didn't RTFA so maybe he qualified it at some point, I don't know.

    This is not an argument against fitness. I absolutely believe in being fit and it's obvious that being fit improves and extends life, in general. But to make a blanket statement like ""There is no level of exercise or fitness that exposes you to risk" is just naïve or lazy.

  • And then you go check funding for the study, and the interest of the team and you'll see a big chain of fitness stores funded it.. no limit to fitness? BS as it also puts a strain on your system. And we've seen more than enough unhealthy living people outlive healthy living people..
    • Re:Check funding (Score:4, Insightful)

      by unimacs ( 597299 ) on Monday October 22, 2018 @09:05AM (#57516947)
      Did you really check the funding? I saw the study was done by the Cleveland Clinic which is pretty well respected but it wasn't apparent what the funding source was.

      The fitter your body, the better it is able to handle strain on your system. That level of fitness is improved by exercise (straining your system), but in degrees. Equally important to improving fitness are adequate rest and recovery along with proper nutrition.

      There is of course such a thing as over training which will decrease your fitness. The study didn't measure how much people exercised. It measured how fit they were. The fitter people were, the longer they lived and there did not seem to be a point at which improved fitness didn't improve their chances at a longer life.

      The study didn't say that there was no upper limit on how fit a person could be. My guess is that there's a certain level of fitness a person can achieve beyond which it becomes very difficult to become any fitter.
      • But the title and article suggests it depends on exercise, and not just fit..
        • by unimacs ( 597299 )
          Well sure, if you're not fit now, you won't become more fit without exercising. But while exercising and fitness are inextricably linked, they aren't the same thing. Too much exercise can have negative impacts on your health AND your level of fitness. But what the study says is that improved fitness never detracts from your health.
  • by mamba-mamba ( 445365 ) on Sunday October 21, 2018 @07:12PM (#57514914)

    This study does not prove what it purports to prove. Namely, that people who are currently sedentary will live longer and be healthier if they change their habits to get more exercise.

    In order to show that, you would need to recruit sedentary people, then create an experimental group and a control group, and randomly assign participants to one group or the other. The control group would simply be monitored. The experimental group would receive an intervention that (ideally) caused them to exercise more. All participants would be tracked until death and then you could see whether the intervention was successful.

    The flaw in the current study is the assumption that sedentary habits are the CAUSE of high mortality. But it may simply be that some underlying trait (such as diet or a metabolic disorder) is responsible for both the sedentary habit AND the higher mortality. In other words, maybe healthy people are more likely to go exercise in the first place, because they have more energy and feel good.

    • by unimacs ( 597299 )
      The study measured outcomes based on level of fitness. The study showed that the fitter you are the better your chances are of living longer.

      You're right in that it does not directly show that sedentary people would live longer if they start exercising but there are plenty of other studies that show that improved fitness comes with exercise. That's pretty well understood. It's about the only way to achieve better fitness unless you're already over-training.

      You're also right about the fact that there m
  • by petes_PoV ( 912422 ) on Monday October 22, 2018 @12:38AM (#57515693)

    a sedentary lifestyle is worse for your health than smoking, diabetes and heart disease.

    What I need is a list of options. How to balance the things I like with the things that will prolong my life to a reasonable extent (so I can continue enjoying myself).

    While it might be nice to live to a grand old age, for most people their ability to be happy in old age is limited by available cash, friends / relatives who still survive (I.e. a support network) and the physical and mental faculties to enable independent thought and movement.

    Another important point, not mentioned, is that of diminishing returns, At what point does the extra time required for exercise, including preparation, travel, showering, laundry, etc. take up more of a person's life than it is likely to extend it by? If someone spends an hour at the gym, 4 days a week (plus another hour for travelling, showering, etc) that is 400 hours a year. That is hours taken not from your *life* but from your quality time: after sleeping, chores, work, commuting, etc. That could easily be 25% of all your discretionary leisure time. So over 40 years of working, that amount of exercise would need to extend your life by an additional 10 years just to make up for the "lost" quality time you spent doing it.

    • At what point does the extra time required for exercise, including preparation, travel, showering, laundry, etc. take up more of a person's life than it is likely to extend it by?

      You're implying that the benefit of exercise is only to extend life. If your exercise is such a druge and you're only trying to get a few years extra then you're doing it wrong on the most fundamental level.

      You should find something that is fun, find something to relax your mind, if you're a social person find something to do with other people. Exercise right and your body releases loads of endorphins. You won't care about how much time you get at the end of the life, you'll be happier living in the now imp

    • by jasenj1 ( 575309 )

      As the AC wrote, the key is to make exercise your "quality time". Biking, kayaking, hiking, running, surfing, falling trees, and construction are activities that require a high level of exertion. Exercise does not need to be done locked in a gym.

  • There is no level of exercise or fitness that exposes you to risk

    Some years ago, not long after I got married, my mother in law observed that I wasn't particularly athletic unlike my wifes' cousin who was a sprinter, hoped for olympic medals etc.

    I said that while I would not win prizes for speed, I looked forward to a healthier life. She was very surprised that I really meant it.

    Over the following years, I did not have back problems, glandular fever and all the other things my wifes cousin did get. She may have been able to run 200m in far less time than I would take t

  • Personally I'd rather not exercise than smoke and have diabetes and heart disease whatever the doctors say.
  • According to another study, getting up and walking for 10-15 minutes every 1.5-2.0 hours is healthier than a single concentrated 2-6 hours of aerobic exercise. It's not a matter of exercising, it's a matter of regularly moving.
    • Though I don't walk 15 minutes every 2 hours, I do usually get in 1-3 15-30 minute walks around the parking lot every workday. I think that helps.

  • I believe that exercise is very good BUT I want to point out that my (quick) skim of the study indicates that this is not a controlled study, in the sense of "participant A was told to exercise and participant B was told not to". So unless I missed the part where they did that, this is a correlation... and it's entirely easy to construct a theory where people who are going to die find it harder to get motivated to exercise... effectively reversing the cause/effect relationship that would otherwise be reall

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