Dieting, Longevity and Exercise...........

Dan Gable. I've never met him. I'd never even heard of him. Most people I know, probably don't know him. But, the story goes like this.

I went to school with a fellow who was a twin. He and his twin brother went to school in the US and were both All Americans. The brother was an All American running back, that's football and my friend was an All American wrestler. My friend wanted to go to this particular US university because it had "the best" wrestling program in the US and was coached by the legendary, Dan Gable.

His first day of try-outs goes like this. Show up, get into your gear, weigh in, get evaluated. Its all going swimmingly. He's looking good, he's feeling great, he's kicking ass! He finishes the evaluation, Dan Gable says something like this, "That was great, you'll be perfect in the 130 lb class." No small feat being praised by the legendary Dan Gable, except, my friend weighs 150. So, my friend spends the next month eating lettuce, drinking water and wearing a glad garbage bag so he can bust his weight.

I was talking to a lady at the gym the other day. She is dieting to get to her competition weight. I had asked her in what class she would be competing. she told me that last year she had been a middle weight but this year she would be a lightweight. I looked it up and the lightweight class is 118 pounds or lighter. She normally weighs about 150. She has been dieting for four months.

I then asked myself, "Do body builders, wrestlers, nay, ALL athletes live longer?" The answer, in a word is "yes" and "no". Most studies I have seen show increased  longevity with some exercise. There are couple of factors that make a big difference in how much longer you live. The type of exercise and the intensity of the exercise makes a big difference in longevity. Running, cycling, cross-country skiing, swimming all add about 6 years to your life. Basketball, hockey or soccer adds about 4 years and weight lifting sprinting adds about 2 years.

Also, increasing the amount of vigorous exercise extended lifespan but increasing non-vigorous exercise did not. For example a runner who added interval training to their work out would get more benefit than a walker who added more miles to their workout. In fact, there is some evidence that the walker gets absolutely NO benefit from the extra miles! 

Something else that I feel is VERY important regarding exercise. There is loads of evidence that if you start your exercise program AFTER the age of 50 you will still obtain the extra years! It's NEVER too late.


Ralph Paffenbarger, M.D., summarises the benefits of exercise with a neat formula: For each hour that a person exercises, he/she gets roughly two extra hours of life! This is probably only true for reasonable amounts of exercise, up to 30 weekly miles of running, otherwise, you buy back your mortality for a meager 12 hours a day.

So what's the point? Exercise is GOOD! Vigorous exercise is better. That's a lot of weight to loose in a short period of time.  Immortality cam be purchased for 12 hours of exercise a day, and Dan Gable is a famous wrestling coach. Who knew? When your body's busted, exercise, then get it adjusted.

Dr. Mike