That's right! Aerobic exercise is GOOD FOR YOU! This study says that running regularly (I would imagine any aerobic exercise would be better than none) inhibits disease as you age.
Survival of the fittestBut what I'd like to know is if you can actually turn the clock backwards and undo damage done by the ravages of my early 20's.
The work tracked 500 older runners for more than 20 years, comparing them to a similar group of non-runners. All were in their 50s at the start of the study.
Nineteen years into the study, 34% of the non-runners had died compared to only 15% of the runners.
Both groups became more disabled with age, but for the runners the onset of disability started later - an average of 16 years later.
2 comments:
Maybe if they track 500 older people running *backwards* for over 20 years, they will actually grow younger.
Hard to say if you can actually turn back the clock.
However, by changing or eliminating risk factors (obesity, sedentary lifestyle, etc) you can change your future risk to that of a younger individual. That is about the same as turning back the clock in my opinion.
Another point to make, despite the conventional wisdom we are always warned by non-physically active aquaintances, "that running is gonna destroy your knees someday," there is little to no scientific evidence to support that belief.
To be sure, runners do get overuse injuries (ITB, shin splints etc) but these result in no long term harm. They disappear when (Aaargh!)running is stopped.
Indeed, I saw one study that suggested that runners actually have less osteoarthritis than their sedentary counterparts of the same age.
It is true that if you have a pre-existing injury, running can unmask it, but it does not appear to consistently cause any long term damage.
So if you want to live longer and live stronger- run on!
Post a Comment