MinnMan

Not so long ago there was a study that suggested that too much strenuous exercise actually harmed longevity, to which I responded that I'd rather live a somewhat shorter life happily riding my heart out. But now the most recent evidence suggests differently - exercise benefits longevity up to about an hour/day, and past that, does not harm or improve your life expectancy.

So now the message is, ride as much as you like.

https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/0...yt-region&_r=0

Biker395 

My sentiments exactly. Whether cycling helps me live longer or not will always be in question. What will not be in question is that it helps me live happier.

John E

Thanks for the post. Since I am pretty moderate in my exercise program, I have never worried much about the risk of overdoing it.


However, I did recently read an extremely surprising -- and understandably potentially troubling for many of us -- article which claims that obese folks have a significantly lower Alzheimer's risk than thin folks.

mapeiboy

This is not a good news for me since I weight 124lbs .

CliffordK

Calculating "longevity" is complicated.

For example, say you exercise 1 hr / day, 365 hrs per year.

Now, if you divide that 365 by 12 hour days, that means that you are exercising about 1 month a year. That is quite a bit. You had better enjoy it. So, say you do that over a period of 60 years, that would be about 5 years of exercising. So, the break-even point would be to either increase the lifespan by more than 5 years, or significantly improve the quality of life.

Does exercise "increase" risk of death? Perhaps a little, especially for the weekend iron men. Perhaps no exercise for 6 months, then head out to 120% of one's capacity.

The other thing I would caution against is exercising to the point where it leads to injury, or requires regular use of pain medications.

wphamilton

I was cheered by the article's claimed "sweet spot" of 450 minutes per week which is pretty near to what I do cycling. But it also seems low, not intense enough to get into really good shape. I really believe that better physical conditioning leads to better health, up to a reasonable point.

VNA

Longevity is one thing but qualify of life is another that is so important!
It is easier to get over a cold or flu if you are fit --surgeons and doctors prefer by far treating fit people!
I got over 2 surgeries this year with very quick recovery--4 days for an inguinal hernia repair and a bone fracture that once the pins were out was back on the bike the next day.
Preferably kicking the bucket at 85 healthy than vegetate until 95 full of tubes.

John E.: maybe "obese folks have a significantly lower Alzheimer's risk than thin folks" but they have a much higher incidents of cancers because fat cells secrete bad hormones!

zonatandem

You'll have to ask about 'longevity' to someone older than me!
I'm only 82 and my wife is 80.
Have ridden over 300,000 (three hundred thousand) miles, 240,000 of which were on tandems with my stoker..
Still ride 100 miles a week.
'Old' is 10 years older than what I am today!

tigat

Tomorrow, I might get hit by a car (again). A genetic defect in my heart, thus far undetected, may put me in the grave, right in the middle of a really challenging climb.

Those are things I can't control.

What I can influence are the habits, and discipline, that expose me almost every day to the joy and freedom I feel on my bike. Scientists can study what they wish, but I can't imagine a finding that they could make that would change the things I love to do.

MinnMan

I have few arguments with this, except that I wouldn't add the snarky comments about scientists (well, I are one, so maybe I'm a little sensitive). Studies like this aren't telling us what to do, even if the press some times pitches it this way. They are evaluating the relationship between environmental factors and health in order to give us all more information, with which we can do what we please. I think that the greatest impact of such studies is to encourage sedentary people to do be a little more active, and who can argue with that?

As cyclists I think we all know that the contributions of cycling to our health expectations are both positive (obvious) and negative (e.g., increased risk of accidents, etc.). We all gauge the risks and the benefits and make our choices.

tigat

I'm truly sorry that the comment on scientists came across as snarky. It was not intended as that. I totally agree that studies that help people understand practices that might extend their days are generally good things. It's just that for me, practices that enhance the quality of the day I'm living in mean more.

MinnMan

yes, me too.

Gerryattrick

I'm always a little bit sceptical about this type of survey, correlating health, longevity and habits.

I don't necessarily disbelieve them, but I do wonder how much they take into account cause and effect. Could it be possible that some of the more naturally fit/healthy people have the greater inclination to exercise more and therefore their longevity is due as much to their genes as their exercise habits?

As usual I have more questions than answers, so I'll continue to take these surveys with a pinch of salt (but not too much, as that could lead to an early death according to health surveys).

qcpmsame 

With absolutely no ill ill towards MinnMan, or any scientist, I had to quit reading health studies. I did it cold turkey too, no support group or medicinal help. No one gets out of this alive, I ride simply because it makes me feel good, and able to function better in daily tasks. As many here have experienced, I was lying in a hospital bed with a doctor saying "It doesn't look good,..." Seen that white light, that Tom Stormcrowe talked about recently, back in 2000, while having emergency surgery for a bowel evisceration and sepsis/gangrene, sobering.

I ride about 2 hours between 5 and 7 days a week, usually 25 or so miles, daily. I haven't injured myself, no ill effects, unless its losing 100+ pounds. Managing my Parkinson's Disease, and kidney disease, pretty well, too. Some want to improve their health and be active, some would rather eat and be sedentary, more power to them. Free will has its responsibilities, too.

Bill

daryou

I'll throw my 2 cents worth into the ring. I do not exercise to increase my longevity because there are no guarantees in life. I'm sure we all knew someone who was fit that died way too young while at the same time someone else who never exercised lived to be a hundred. I exercise for two reasons. First, to improve my quality of life, as has been pointed out. I wanted to be able to play games, go on hikes and bike rides, etc. with my kids and now with my grandkids. Second, while there are no guarantees, exercise does improve my chances of living longer. With that being said, I must say that I hate to exercise. Exercise is work. Exercise is something I have to do to stay healthy. I DO NOT ride for exercise. I'm not going to ride 15 miles just so I can get my cardio workout done. I ride for the LOVE of riding. All of the healthy benefits of riding are just added perks.

curlyque

I'm 68, and I really do see every day that I have full mobility as a bonus. I remember my grandmother saying 'we got good bones' :-)

For the last year or so I got interesting rekindling my competitive nature. That turned out to be a bust.

Back to just riding with the where am I going to go today mindset.

avidone1

I want to live as long as possible PROVIDED I am mentally and physically able to enjoy it.
If I'm chronically ill or severely demented then please.............shoot me.

Rick@OCRR

According to Strava I ride an average of 20 hours per week. That works out to a bit less than one (24 Hour) day per week.

That would put me a bit over the recommended avarage but hopefully not into the "dangerous" range . . . if there really is one.

In any case, I don't do it to (hopefully) make my life longer, but simply because I enjoy riding.

Rick / OCRR

kzin

They had a statiscally meaninful number of people report about 4 hours per DAY of 'moderate exercise' ???

somebody's reporting standing up as moderate exercise.

MinnMan

Yeah, that's a little odd. Wait staff in a very busy restaurant? Mailmen? Personal trainers and aerobics instructors? Manual laborers?

jeromephone

I think it is sort of like the ads for the motor oil additive that is guaranteed for 150,000 miles. If you make it to 150,000 was it because of the additive or did it make it because you took good care of the car. If it doesn't make it who is going to try and collect on the product do you still have the orginal receipt or own the car?

At my age I think being active is very important it is hard to keep focus and I think you just have to push yourself Due to injury I have been off for almost a year and it is really hard to get back into it again (my wife is a big motivator) I see people every day who know they should be doing something but it is just easier to do nothing, you just don't see or feel the benefits of right away.

RideMyWheel

Maybe it's because they aren't living long enough to get it? Something else kills them first?

It wasn't.

Why I Hope to Die at 75 - The Atlantic

I'm echoing what a lot of people have said, my goal is to maximize those active & lucid years.

With billions of Medicare dollars waiting to be claimed, modern medicine will figure out a way to keep us alive with diabetes, high cholesterol, Parkinson's, heart disease, etc. And we can forget about a cure or vaccine for cancer, because there's too much money to be made in treatment.

They say "you can't take it with you," but I beg to differ. Dying healthy is one sure way we can take it with us. By staying off of their prescription drugs and out of their death trap hospitals, we may not be putting money in OUR pockets, but we damn sure aren't putting it into theirs, and that's at least something.

tclune

I want to live as long as I'm lucid, too -- but my standards for lucidity keep declining with age...

osco53

Wow,,I guess it's because I'm only 56.
I don't fear death at all probably because It loomed over me once, Been close to it, real close, It was calming not frightful.

Anyway I ride because I love it.
The fact that the extreme Intensity of mountain bike riding has put me In the best shape of my life was a bonus..

As for this level or that being harmful or helpful, well I don't waste what time I have left on things like that.
All I know is the extreme level I ride at is what got me where I am now.

If They have to find me in the woods by watching the circling Buzzards, that's cool..I'm gonna always ride my ARZE OFF !

rmfnla

I don't smoke because I think it's disgusting. Don't drink soft drinks because I don't like them. Eat moderate amounts of meat because too much make me feel bloated.

I make my lifestyle choices based on what makes me happy.

Fortunately, most of those choices are fairly healthy although a lifetime of cycling has taken its toll on my knees...