Highest risk for early death should be a cause for alarm as studies show that people who are out of shape are likely to die a premature death, compared to those who live an active lifestyle.
Highest risk for death due to poor health
In a study recently published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, researchers from the University of Gothenberg, Sweden together with several research and educational institutions presented the results of a long-term study involving physical fitness among middle-aged men.
Researchers reveal that being unfit becomes a high risk factor for premature death, as people who have been found to sport an active lifestyle combined with a good diet and exercise are able to live longer, thus, pose less risk to premature death.
Lifetime research
This long-term study was initiated way back in 1963 where 1000 healthy men aged 50 years old from Gothenburg who were born in 1913 gave their permission for the study for the rest of their lives to allow scientists to understand the lifetime risks of diseases , specifically with conditions affecting the heart.
The baseline data consisted of heart rate, blood pressure, weight and cholesterol levels. The men were also grouped according to those who do regular exercises and those who smoke.
After four years, extensive testing was conducted on a few of them after results were gathered from the initial tests. The new round of testing focused on determining the participants’ maximum aerobic capacity also known as VO2 max. It was through these results that scientists developed a mathematical formula that could estimate the aerobic capacity all the remaining participants.
Measuring genes and lifestyle
The scientists were able to measure both the genes and lifestyles with the breakthrough measurement process of VO2 which could tell that being overweight or having a sedentary lifestyle meant your VO2 scores were low. The VO2 max were better measurement tools compared to self-reports by participants as it shows a more accurate rating process by way of lifestyle and gene testing.
Obviously, those who smoked were determined to have greater risks of premature death based on the VO2 max statistics and this is followed by poor fitness, that scaled even higher compared to those at risk of high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels.
Although VO2 max was not proven to have any direct effect on a person’s lifespan, but scientists believe that by improving physical fitness, they are bound to strengthen their immune system and improve the body’s capacity to fight and ward off diseases.
The study, however, does seek to remind people that the need to exercise and keeping the body fit should remain as a health concern for everyone and can surely give credence that the healthier the body, the longer one lives.
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