Does Physical Fitness help You Live Longer?

For the most part Carl is right. You’re going to die (but likely not from a knife attack). But the health and fitness industry seems to scare people into buying products and idea’s that essentially are promising a way to cheat death.

The concept of being ‘fit’ hasn’t really translated into people living much longer. In fact the only lifestyle intervention that has ever been proven to help extend life is simply caloric restriction.

In other words, eat less food.

That’s it.

Eating less food is the only thing you can do that has any scientific suggestion that it can help extend life, or at least help you avoid a premature death.

I’m not suggesting that exercising is a waste of time, but rather to realize what it can and can’t do.

Exercising can make you stronger, or better at a specific movement pattern or event (like running, or lifting or some sort of sport). It’ can also help with bone density, flexibility, stress relief and a host of other positive systemic benefits…BUT we have no proof or indication that it has any effect on longevity (independent of caloric restriction)

In other words, exercise and ‘fitness’ itself isn’t enough to affect your long term health if you don’t also combine it with some degree of calorie restriction or control.

John

Posted by johnbarban in Health
Tags: Fitness, Longevity |11 Comments

11 Responses to “Does Physical Fitness help You Live Longer?”

  1. usernametooshortnowitstoolon Says:
    June 23rd, 2010 at 12:17 pm

    Would it be fair to say that we should use exercise to improve our quality of life and use caloric restriction to increase our lifespan?

    Sort of like a quality vs. quantity issue?

  2. usernametooshortnowitstoolon Says:
    June 23rd, 2010 at 12:19 pm

    Also, do we have any numbers yet to derive how much caloric restriction is required to increase our lifespan by let’s say 1 year? I realize this is almost an impossible thing to do since there’s so many other factors to consider. But never hurts to ask!

  3. johnbarban Says:
    June 23rd, 2010 at 12:20 pm

    Not necessarily, quantity is also a measure of quality.

    In other words, it’s not likely that you will a long life if you also has poor quality along the way.

    JB

  4. johnbarban Says:
    June 23rd, 2010 at 12:41 pm

    Impossible to get a number on that.

  5. Anthony Ramos Says:
    June 23rd, 2010 at 4:24 pm

    John, let’s get some social sharing features like Twitter and Facebook ‘Share” and “Like” on here.

    Instructions:
    http://www.facebook.com/facebook-widgets/share.php

  6. Matthew Says:
    June 23rd, 2010 at 10:14 pm

    What about the advantages that exercise provides over the long term…

    If someone stays ‘fit’ and is able to do certain movements like: squat, pull up, and push up. This could lead to improved quality of life down the road AND they *could* live longer.

    For example someone is able to do the above and avoids falls that others took because they did not stay in shape. Hence they live longer. Or a fit person was able to get themselves help after falling because they stayed fit and therefore live longer.

  7. Chad Says:
    June 23rd, 2010 at 11:10 pm

    When you think about it your hearts only going to beat so many times in your life so if you maintain a lowish resting heart rate from light-moderate exercise you would think then at least your heart would last a bit longer,instead of being really unfit so your hearts beating faster all the time.but thats just your heart you could die from a huge list of things

  8. Andy Says:
    June 24th, 2010 at 3:17 am

    Haha more Carl and other cartoon related health videos please John…loved it

    Andy

  9. Jaxon Says:
    June 24th, 2010 at 7:13 am

    The quality of your existance is almost as important as the quantity. Who wants to be have to carry around an oxygen bottle and use a crutch if your lifestyle can prevent it by not smoking and eating less. Retaining physical capabilities into old age like aerobic endurance, flexibility, …. will improve your life quality as you age. It’s sad when you see really overweight people who can’t move around well and are huffing and puffing.

  10. Alex P. Says:
    June 24th, 2010 at 10:04 am

    Can’t go wrong with Carl.

    The only thing I can say about exercise and quantity of life is the prevention of catastrophic injuries that commonly kill older people, like hip fractures. Building up bone density through exercise can lessen the severity of that.

  11. usernametooshortnowitstoolon Says:
    June 24th, 2010 at 12:37 pm

    Jaxon,

    BP recently posted about this too:

    http://bradpilon.com/weight-loss/longevity/

    I think JB and BP are in collusion, haha!

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