“Close” isn’t generally a word we associate with achievement. In point of fact, not many things in life, it seems, count much at all if you don’t “hit the nail on the head.” Luckily for some, this may not be absolutely true when it comes to an extended lifespan. As a chiropractor in Camarillo, who has many older patients and who is also a firm believer in the advantages of exercise at every age, I was very interested in the following study.

Researchers found that of the “least-fit” versus the “slightly more fit” in a recent study of nearly 4,400 healthy U.S. adults, roughly 20 percent with the lowest physical fitness levels were twice as likely to die over the nine years of the study as the 20 percent with the next-lowest fitness levels. (In other words, those 20 percent who were nearly at the lowest fitness levels.) This is the familiar “bad news/good news” outcome. It is obviously bad news if you are a confirmed spectator in life. However, it is genuinely good news for those who haven’t quite hit rock bottom in the sedentary lifestyle department but are not, by any means, very active. Apparently, those individuals who continue to be even moderately fit as they grow older may have a longer lifespan than those who are entirely out-of-shape, the study suggests.

The study included 4,384 middle-aged and older men and women whose fitness levels were evaluated during exercise treadmill tests sometime between 1986 and 2006. For nearly nine years thereafter, the researchers followed the study groups progress. Such factors as obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure were considered in the study. This, in and of itself, underscores the value 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 stated: “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, versus 13 percent of those who were slightly more in shape. Among adults in the most-fit group (the ones who “hit the nail on the head”, so to speak) only 6 percent died during the follow-up period.

The five fitness-level groups showed little variance, overall, in their reported exercise habits during most of their adult lives, but notably, they differed 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, despite weight and other health issues such as those mentioned above, fitness is undeniably linked to longevity. As such, exercise is essential to the extension of our lifespan. And, naturally, just think of the health advantages we could all derive if we worked towards the higher levels of fitness.

SOURCE: Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, August 2009.

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