“Nearly” isn’t generally a word we associate with achievement. In fact, very little in life, it seems, counts much at all if you don’t “hit a grand slam.” Luckily for some, this may not be entirely the case when it comes to longevity. As a chiropractor in Santa Barbara, who has many senior patients and who is also a firm believer in the advantages of exercise at every age, I was very happy to read about the results of the following study.

Researchers found that of the “least-fit” versus the “slightly more fit” in a recent study of nearly 4,400 healthy U.S. adults, roughly 20 percent with the lowest physical fitness levels were twice as likely to die over the nine years of the study as the 20 percent with the next-lowest fitness levels. (In other words, those 20 percent who were nearly at the lowest fitness levels.) This is the proverbial “bad news/good news” type of result. It is obviously bad news if you are a resolute couch potato. But, it is definitely good news for those who haven’t entirely embraced a sedentary lifestyle but are not, by any stretch of the imagination, “exertive.” Apparently, those individuals who stay even moderately fit as they grow older may have a longer lifespan than those who are entirely out-of-shape, the study suggests.

Between 1986 and 2006, researchers evaluated the fitness levels of 4,384 middle-aged and senior adults during exercise treatmill tests. The researchers then observed their progress for approximately nine years. Such factors as obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure were considered in the study. This, in and of itself, highlights the value of physical fitness itself. In an email to Reuters Health, lead researcher, Dr. Sandra Mandic of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, stated: “Our findings suggest that a sedentary lifestyle, rather than differences in cardiovascular risk factors or age, may explain the two-fold higher mortality rates in the least-fit versus slightly more fit individuals.”

Nearly two-thirds of the participants at the least-fit level failed to get at least 30 minutes of moderate activity, five or more days a week, which was the minimum recommended amount of exercise. “These results emphasize the importance of improving and maintaining high fitness levels by engaging in regular physical activity,” Mandic said, “particularly in poorly-fit individuals.”

Dividing the study group participants by fitness levels, the researchers found that 25 percent of the least-fit men and women had died during the study period, as opposed to 13 percent of those who were slightly more in shape. Among adults in the most-fit group (the ones who “hit a grand slam”, so to speak) only 6 percent died during the follow-up period.

The five fitness-level groups showed little variance, overall, in their reported exercise habits during most of their adult lives, but conspicuously, they varied in activity levels only in recent years. “Since it is recent physical activity that offers protection,” Mandic said, “it is important to maintain regular physical activity throughout life.”

And, naturally, just think of the health advantages we could all derive if we sought to achieve the higher levels of fitness.

SOURCE: Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, August 2009.

Technorati Tags: exercise, longevity, middle age, physical fitness

Chiropractic Santa Barbara is concerned about your total wellness and offers the following “health-full” information: Last week I read an article on sciencedaily.com regarding a study carried out on aged mice raised to develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and the benefits of caffeine in decreasing memory loss. The article started with the angle that “Coffee drinkers may have another reason to pour that extra cup.”  It went on to report on a sequence of studies published online July 6 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease that showed that caffeine considerably decreased abnormal levels of the protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease, both in the brains and in the blood of mice exhibiting symptoms of the disease.

However, before you make a decision to add an extra cuppa to your daily routine, let me add that also on the website, under “Related Stories,” were at least two articles reporting on studies that showed the non-beneficial effects of caffeine, “Morning Jolt of Caffeine May Mask Serious Sleep Problems,” and “Coffee Consumption Linked To Increased Risk Of Heart Attack For Persons With Certain Gene Variation.”

Nearly every point of view, I’ve noticed, especially when it has to do with age-related health issues, can be corroborated, or at least given credence, by other related studies. The “yin-yang” of caffeine benefits-deficits naturally aren’t, of course, the only ones. But, it did get me to considering about the reasonableness that there will never be any “one thing” that will with absolute certainty assist we, humans, in living longer, healthier lives. Humans are dynamic, biological creatures. We aren’t raised in unnatural confinement We are actively engaged in life. And, moreover, though Alzheimer’s disease may be on the rise, obviously none of us has been “singled out to develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease,” therefore caffeine isn’t going to be the “one thing” that will reverse or prevent it.

Our body is a splendid, involved system that is based on homeostasis (balance). Consequently good health is cultivated by a healthy, balanced approach to living, instead of our jumping on the bandwagon of the latest health study and “doing” or “overdoing” one particular thing under the illusion that it will reverse all of the other over-indulgent and unhealthy things we have done to our bodies.

I believe, as a doctor of chiropractic, that every single day we have an opportunity to make healthy choices for our body, to decide what will assist us to live longer, healthier lives. We know what genuinely “feels” beneficial and what doesn’t when it comes to what is good for our body. So, I just wanted to pass along a little something for you to keep in mind the next time you reach for that extra cup of coffee or second glass of red wine. Neither one of those things is the “one thing” that will do “everything” for your age-related health issues.

Technorati Tags: age-related health issues, caffeine, chiropractor, health, longevity, red wine