Despite of the ups and downs of life, most of us enjoy our life. I don't know anybody, in the right
mind, who wants to die right away. Some patients have ask if there is anything we could eat or do to increase our life
expectancy. Surely you have seen my
previous blogs about maintaining ideal body weight, eat less meat, salt, sugar,
fat (I know these are taste goods…).
One more aspect of what we could do to improve our chance of long
healthy living is EXERCISE.
One study by Leitzmann involving 252,925 men and women aged 50-71 years showed that
vigorous exercise (at least 20 minutes three times a week) combined with
regular exercise (at least 30 minutes of moderate activity most days of the
week) was associated with a 50 percent decreased death rate. It appears to be dose dependent. That means, the more you exercise the more
you will benefit.
So, I don’t have a fountain of youth or pills to prolong your
life. But exercise seems to be a strong
predictor of healthy living. Of course,
you need to talk to your doctor first if you are fit for exercise. Yes, some exercises are boring. Consider make it like a game that is fun to
exercise. I often play basket ball with
my neighbor’s children. These 8-10 years
old easily beat me in cardiac performance but I have fun with them. When they beat me too often, then I would do
my “vigorous” gardening: pulling out lots of weeds or cutting up dead trees…
Reference:
Leitzmann MF, et al. Physical
activity recommendations and decreased risk of mortality. Arch Intern Med.
2007;167(22):2453.
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