I read on the web the results of a medical study. It said that men who were fit (exercised a certain amount) had half the chance of dying in the next 10 years as unfit men. It also said that men who were very fit had 70% less of a chance of dying in the next 10 years. I assume that these were men of at least middle years and not 10 year olds. At any rate, the conclusion was that exercise has a direct benefit on health. Sometimes I think physicians should not be allowed to make conclusions.

The problem with the above studies is the results do not demonstrate any survival advantage as a result of exercise. How can I say that?

Well because

Very fit men probably have much lower rates of diabetes than the normal population and diabetes raises mortality rates.
Very fit men probably are not excessively obese and obesity is associated with higher mortality.
I would just bet that very fit men have hearts that are in better shape and less chance of a fatal heart attack.
I would just bet that very fit men probably are not suffering from advanced cancer.
I would just bet that very fit men probably have very low rates of smoking.
I would just bet that very fit men probably have lower rates of alcoholism.
I would just bet that very fit men pay more attention to having a healthy diet.

Unless you control for all of the above, and the study did not indicate that it did, then the improved advantage to fitness could well be just other beneficial things that are associated with being fit and not a result of the exercise in and of itself.

Now I am very fit and I would like to think that is a good thing. But I am very skeptical of the sloppy research that is often done.

I see an opportunity for a poll here. Where's DnvrFox when we need him?

I am reasonably fit and have never created a BF poll. I'm thinking of doing a poll to try to figure out what it might mean.

I think I get your point. The answer to the study was inherently built in to the way they asked the question. Something like the Anthropomorphic Principle or a version of "I refuse to join any club that would have me".

I would just bet that very fit men probably eat pie.

Rick / OCRR

I was feeling pretty good here untill I reread the post. You said "are fit" but I saw "had a fit".............

Grumpy Warning = ON

Ok, there's a whole mindset "out there" permeating our world that demands that fitness only be viewed through the lens of incresed lifespan. The sited report seems to fall into that category and seems to use lazy logic to make the point. For my part, I believe I stay at my level of fittness because I was ALREADY given a level of good health and physical "sturdiness" just by the throw of the genetic dice. It allows me to go out and "just do it".

I once did a career in the medical business, for my sins, and one of the ideas that got tossed around was that good fitness "delayed and compressed the Period of Morbidity". Which I took to mean, fit folk stay healthy longer and the thing that finally kills them doesn't take as long. Not such a bad deal.

I'm personally not all that keen to live a life beyond the point I can do stuff. And incarceration in the clutches of the medical "care" establishment? Forget that.

Grumpy Warning = OFF

So what's your point? People who exercise also display a variety of characteristics that are associated with living longer. This is news?

This ties with a recent British study of twins, which demonstrates that those who exercise 3 hours or more per week are biologically almost a decade younger than their couch potato counterparts. The effect can be verified at the cellular level. Protect your telomeres -- ride a bike!

Those who eat pie at the end of each ride should have been part of the study.

Where's the study which shows that bicycle riders spend more time splitting hairs in forums in the winter?

If I had any hair I wouldn't be splitting it.

I think it can be best summed up as "Exercise will add life to your years, not necessarily years to your life"... you can substitute the word 'biking' for 'exercise' and it works even better...

trin safe-

+1
I exercise to feel better not to live longer. If I live longer while feeling better that's all good. We all know about our contemporaries who do NOT exercise, because we have to listen to their regular complaints about aches, pains, lifestyle medical problems, etc. They, on the other hand, have to put up with our cycling stories.

My take of the study is that women obviously have no hope.

Like someone said, all of us fit people are going to feel pretty stupid one day when we are lying in a hospital dying of NOTHING.

Personally, I don't give this much thought. I keep fit to feel better too, and dying is just a by-product of feeling better. I hope I die of nothing in particular (all the descriptions of specific ways to go are so grim), and think I will probably just rust out - like most of the other things in my life have done. Like I'm so special?

I am with you 100%, but since the same practices which add years to my life coincidentally add life to my years, there is no conflict.

Their conclusion makes sense to me.

Since diabetes is likely caused by obesity in many cases the lack of diabetes may be a direct or indirect result of the exercise.

Obesity is often the result of lack of exercise to a large extent.

Exercise is at least one of the major contributors to good heart health.

Better diet, quitting or not starting smoking, and moderation in alcohol consumption all tend to go hand in hand with regular exercise. Even if they may not be the direct result of it they are likely to be an indirect result of it even if only due to increased sense of well being.