I harp on fitness often. Personally I work out approximately 5 days a week, some resistance training, some cardiovascular work. This article speaks to young adults, but I suspect it is rarely too late. Treadmill Tests Gauge Future Fitness
The study involved about 4,400 men and women who were given a treadmill test when they were 18 to 30. Most of them were followed for 15 years after that.
Those who did not do well on the treadmill test faced double the risk of developing high blood pressure, diabetes or a condition called metabolic syndrome, compared with highly fit participants. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of symptoms that includes high blood sugar, poor cholesterol levels, elevated blood pressure and a fat belly.
Some of the participants underwent a second treadmill test, seven years after the first one. Those who became more fit during those intervening years reduced by 50 percent their risk of diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
The study is published in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
The findings “confirm what common sense has always told us — lack of fitness in youth is not a good thing for later life,” said Dr. Teri Manolio, director of epidemiology at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which funded the research. “It doesn’t take that long for risk factors to develop and disease to develop.”
Fitness levels were determined by how long participants could walk on a treadmill without becoming fatigued and short of breath.
We should spend public health dollars on middle school and high school fitness programs. “Phys Ed” is not a luxury for students, but rather a most important class. It should provide life long exercise habits. This is important.
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4 Responses to Fitness matters!
Fakeo Nameo
December 17th, 2003 at 11:25 am
Is fitness or cholesterol level a better indicator of future CVD risk? Is fitness more important than BMI for general health risk? Are overweight people that are fit, better of than sedentary skinny folks? Those were a couple of topics that came up for discussion in my Health Behavior class, but nobody really had looked at the studies.
Luu
December 18th, 2003 at 8:12 am
I recall reading an article (in TNR) that referenced studies showing that being fit with a high BMI was no less healthy than having a “normal” BMI. I’ve never looked at the studies either though.
lk
December 18th, 2003 at 8:19 am
Being fit is common knowledge. But like smoking, despite the clear evidence, people will ignore it. I hope this changes.
hope
December 18th, 2003 at 8:01 pm
What about those of us who are stop-and-start about fitness? I go in cycles. SOmetimes I’m religious about gym attendance and running, but I also slack and do nothing for weeks at a time. Fortunately, my off times have decreased – now I go weeks instead of months. But I do wonder what the yo-yo exercising does for my long-term health outlook.