Survival of fittest
Some exercise is good, but more is better -- at least when it comes to cutting risk of death in the immediate future. That’s the conclusion of a study of 15,660 Caucasian and African American men (average age 59) who were given treadmill tests to determine their level of fitness. The men, tested in Washington, D.C., and Palo Alto, were followed for about seven years. Those who were in the “very highly fit” category had a 70% lower death risk during that time period than those in the “low fit” category. Those considered moderately fit had about a 50% lower death risk compared with the low-fit group.
Moderate fitness isn’t that difficult to achieve, says Peter Kokkinos, director of an exercise testing lab at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and lead author of the study published last week online in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Assn. “You need to take a brisk walk for 30 minutes four to six times a week. It’s not as easy as taking a pill, but let’s be reasonable here.”
But upping that activity into a fitter zone, which ultimately yields more benefits, doesn’t take much more: “Add a little jogging, push yourself a little bit,” he says.
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