Wellness

[lolakimono]

According to the NY Times...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/12/well/move/an-hour-of-running-may-add-seven-hours-to-your-life.htm...

Some interesting tidbits from the article for those who aren't link clickers-

Running may be the single most effective exercise to increase life expectancy, according to a new review and analysis of past research about exercise and premature death. The new study found that, compared to nonrunners, runners tended to live about three additional years, even if they run slowly or sporadically and smoke, drink or are overweight. No other form of exercise that researchers looked at showed comparable impacts on life span.

...Cumulatively, the data indicated that running, whatever someone’s pace or mileage, dropped a person’s risk of premature death by almost 40 percent, a benefit that held true even when the researchers controlled for smoking, drinking and a history of health problems such as hypertension or obesity.

... the researchers estimated that a typical runner would spend less than six months actually running over the course of almost 40 years, but could expect an increase in life expectancy of 3.2 years, for a net gain of about 2.8 years.

[2blonde]

@lolakimono I did recently hear that on the morning news.  I guess that's good news for me since I've been running 4 times a week for the last 32 years.  I always tell people I do it because there's an old lady chasing me and I'm afraid she'll catch me (she's getting closer, though)  I'll be doing my 3 mile lunch run today in about an hour!

[phoenixbrd]

Interesting...I have read that intermittent running as fast as you are capable with slower pacing was more effective than consistent pacing.  Perhaps this is the more current research.  I think any movement is a step in the right direction and I'm biased that tai chi is the best!  Kudos to anyone who incorporates any exercise on a regular basis!

[kelsey17]

I think walking is a better form of exercise....i have been told that by 2 docs over the years....running can be hard on the body, knees, etc.....even for people in good shape...my sister in law ran religiously years back and both knees got so damaged  she had to have medical procedures on them and had to change to walking...............

[151949]

That would be 3 more years to live with the terrible joint pain that you have as a result of all the running you did damaging your joints.Seriously , studies like this are ridiculous. They can't possibly predict what you will die from. You may get hit by a car while your out running for Pete's sake! You may get any number of infectious diseases - will running prevent that? Will it prevent a stroke, cancer, any one of the hundreds of genetic diseases, pneumonia? I would not give this study the time it takes to read it.

[hckynut]

Hi to you @lolakimono

This has been known, and proven, for decades now. Dr. Kenneth Cooper, of the Aerobics Center has written many books, which I bought way back when, breaking it down in many different factors, to prove its validity.

He didn't test or write only about running. It including swimming/cycling, and other high aerobic and anaerobic activities. He had/has age brackets/gender/genetics including longevity.

He believed in an individual's total lifestyle, not ever believing that running alone is going to influence your longevity. He included the Major Risk Factors, which he said everyone should work to eliminate as many of them as possible, some over which a person cannot change.

This man was decades ahead of his time and wrote books and gave Health Clinics around the country, 3 of which I attended in our city. For those wanting to do the necessary work and make changes in their lives, this was even easy for me to find, long before the advent of Google and other sources of information.

My running since the 1960's had little to nothing to do with how many years I will be living. Didn't then when I was in my mid 20's, and doesn't now. What it did was to allow to do, physically and mentally, things I would not have been able to do. In all aspects of my regular daily life things made much easier to do, and also allowed me to participate in the types of activities I loved/love doing.

Nothing comes with a guarantee of a longer life. My goal was, in still is over 50+ years later, to be able to be physically and mentally independent. While everyone needs help on occasions as they age, help and dependency are miles apart.

This is good reading for anyone wanting to get more out of their lives than just adding years to their age. The old adage: "More life in your years, not years in your life. Nice thread.

hckynut(john)

[hckynut]

---

@phoenixbrd wrote:

Interesting...I have read that intermittent running as fast as you are capable with slower pacing was more effective than consistent pacing.  Perhaps this is the more current research.  I think any movement is a step in the right direction and I'm biased that tai chi is the best!  Kudos to anyone who incorporates any exercise on a regular basis!

---

@phoenixbrd

Dr. David Costill wrote books in the 1970's about this and it is called Interval Training. I incorporated this into my running and my ice skating. It not only allows ones body to add more muscle fibers/increase leg speed(turnover)/improve their running and skating speeds(anything aerobic actually).

Best of all, decrease a person's recovery time from injury, or even heart attacks, which I used after each of them. Like Dr. Kenneth Cooper, he too went around our country giving day long  Clinics on his findings as a World Renowned Exercise Physiologist.

I am still incorporating Interval Training in my present routines, and it still allowed me to recover much quicker from a couple 6 day hospital stays I have had in less than 2 years. One had me even unable to walk up our 17 basement stairs without rest stops and the assistance of the bannister.

I started my routines at "point zero fitness" with very slow walking on 1 of our treadmills/using our recumbent bike, and working out on our NuStep/Bowflex and Total Gym. I just yesterday had a followup visit with my GP for my fractured right rib and he was amazed at my recovery and present fitness levels.

I ran my fastest Road Races along with winning several Gold and Silver Medals at our State Winter Olympic Games in the over 50 age group in Speed Skating thev100/200 and 400 meter distances. All of this in my late 40's and early and late 50's and 60's.

Nothing new for athletes or anyone really into fitness and improvements in performance back in those earlier decades. Info was there for those "nut cases" like myself, that craved more information in physical fitness and performance as we aged

hckynut(john)

[SeaMaiden]

I will pass on the three years and Not run

[hckynut]

---

@kelsey17 wrote:

I think walking is a better form of exercise....i have been told that by 2 docs over the years....running can be hard on the body, knees, etc.....even for people in good shape...my sister in law ran religiously years back and both knees got so damaged  she had to have medical procedures on them and had to change to walking...............

---

@kelsey17

Any and all aerobic or anaerobic exercise the increases one's heart rate is as beneficial as the other. For those that wish to compete in running Road Races, to increase your speed or decrease the amount of time it takes you to run a 5k or 10k, you need to run.

I've ran well over 100,000 miles in my life and my knees are just fine. While I did have an issue with my knee, it was not the Knee Joint. It was connecting Patella Tendon, which tabled me for almost 4 months. No way connected to a knee joint injury.

I attribute that to knowing the structure of my feet/buying the right shoes for my type of feet/doing every exercise known to strengthen all the muscles around, and supporting the knee joint, and using common sense and not over doing my training. No scope surgeries, no steriod shots, no anything done to my healthy, soon to be, 78 year old knees.

Right now my exercises consist of walking/riding recumbent bike and using a NuStep for my Aerobic Fitness? For strength and resistance training I am using a Bowflex and Total Gym. Stretching all muscle groups and connective tissues to maintain their flexibility. The longer I exercise, the longer I stretch.

For my spine I do many on the floor exercises to keep my "minus 3 lumbar disc back" from injury, and also more important is working all the Abdominal Muscle Groups on my Ab Lounge/Ab Roller just plain old crunches throughout the day. 

Knee issues can and are usually more common in the ladies. Most Excercise Physiologists say this is because of wider hips of ladies in comparison to the male gender. I know men decades younger than myself, that have never ran for exercise, unless forced via a teacher or in the US Armed Forces, that have had their knees replaced.

There are things one can do to protect their knees, but gender, and some genetics, can be more the issue with knee problems, than from running. Those things are proven facts over decades of studies by many in that field of Exercise Physiology.

hckynut(john)