Keep Breathing: Take a Hike
Some things in life are well worth avoiding. Premature death, for example. It really doesn’t make a lot of sense to die unnecessarily early when, with a little care, that can probably be avoided. Among the more encouraging health developments in the last quarter-century has been the realization--rediscovery in some cases--that there’s a lot people can do to forestall dying too soon. Staying away from smoking is health-promoting. So is the right kind of diet.
Now comes the most extensive confirmation yet that even moderate exercise can produce a level of fitness that is associated with lower death rates.
Specifically, in a long-term study that tracked the health histories of more than 13,000 men and women, it was found that people who engaged in regular physical activity substantially improved their chances of not dying prematurely. Exercise, even if only a brisk 30-to 40-minute walk each day, reduces the chances of dying from heart disease and--most suggestively--from cancer. While the precise relation between physical activity and avoiding these diseases isn’t yet understood, the statistical link is clearer than ever.
The more sedentary a person is before embarking on a modest exercise program, the more dramatic the health benefit. Thus the death rate for the worst-conditioned men in the study was found to be 64.0 deaths per 10,000 person-years, compared to only 25.5 deaths for men at the next level of fitness. Generally, according to the study’s statistics, the higher the level of fitness the lower the death rate tended to be.
The study, conducted by the Institute for Aerobics Research and the Cooper Clinic in Dallas and published in the current Journal of the American Medical Assn., suggests that a low level of fitness may be as important a risk factor in early death as smoking, elevated blood cholesterol, high blood pressure and a family history of heart disease. Out of five major risk factors, then, four can be controlled. For those willing to act on that knowledge, the chances of avoiding premature death get better all the time.
