Does Fitness Have An Impact On How Long You Will Live?

Want to live longer?

Then exercise has to be part of your life.

There is no 'Fountain Of Youth', but exercise is likely as close as we will get.

 

Exercise = Fitness.

In general, more exercise, more fitness.

So how does your degree of fitness relate to how long you will live?

The currency of fitness is the MET: Metabolic Equivalent.

1 MET = Energy Spent At Rest

2.5 METs = Playing Golf (With a cart)

5 METs = VERY Brisk Walk (Not a stroll)

10 METs = Competitive Soccer

15 METs = Cross Country Ski Racing

 

Let's take people and put them on a treadmill to see what their Max METs are and then see how it impacts how long they live.

The test results in different fitness categories classified by METs:

Least 4.7 METs

Low 7.1 METs

Moderate 9.0 METs

Fit 10.4 METs

High 12.1 METs

Extremely 14.3 METs

Let's follow these groups for the next ten years and see who dies.

Compared to the Extremely Fit category, you were 39% more likely to have died if you were in the High Fit category.

Not great.

If, however, you were in the Least Fitness category, you were 4 TIMES more likely to have died.

For the Low Fitness group, it was almost 3 times.

Disaster.

 

For every 1 MET increase in fitness, you were about 14% less likely to have died.

Less than 40% of the Males in the Least Fit group were alive at ten years.

While 80% of the Males & 95 % of the Females in the Extreme Fitness Group were alive at ten years.

 

To achieve a 50% reduction in death at ten years, you had to be able to perform at least the following:

11 METs Age 30-49

10 METs Age 50 - 59

8 METS Age 60 -79

7 METs Age 80 & Above

Remember:

10 METs = Competitive Soccer

8 METs = Basketball Game

How are you shaping up so far?

 

The risk of dying was over 85% less for Males and Females who could achieve a Max MET of 14.

14 METs = Being able to run at a pace of 4:21 mins/Km.

Not sustain it, but being at least able to get up to that speed.

We can't all be Eliud Kipchoge!

I've said it before and I will say to again.

You have to exercise like your life depends on it.

Because it does.

If you don't make time for exercise you will likely pay the price in years of your life.

That's an expensive trade-off.

Let's get to it.