(19-02-13) Live as Long as an Olympian

On average, Olympic medalists live longer than the rest of the population,
although generally only by about three years. This was true irrespective of
country, medal or sport, which makes sense since exercise is well known to
extend longevity.

However, I've often described exercise as a drug that needs to be taken in the
ideal dosage to impart the optimal benefit. Too little, and you won't get any
benefit. Too much, and you could do harm.

Two recent studies in the British Medical Journal echoed these sentiments and
found that, even among Olympic athletes, there can be too much of a "good
thing."

Overly Strenuous Exercise is Not Necessarily Better

In the first study, which looked at the lives of over 15,000 Olympic medalists
since 1896, researchers found that about 13 percent more athletes who competed
in endurance sports (running, cycling) or mixed sports (cricket, golf, croquet)
were alive 30 years after winning their medal, compared to non-Olympians of the
same age and region.1

This was significantly more than among medalists in power sports (weight
lifting and hammer throw), of which just 5 percent more were alive 30 years
later compared to the control group.

Likewise, the second study, which included both Olympic participants and
medalists, found that athletes in more strenuous sports (rowers, runners) lived
similar lifespans to those who competed in less intense sports (golf, cricket).
2 Furthermore, those who engaged in the most extreme contact sports, such as
rugby or bobsledding (which involves frequent crashes), had shorter lifespans
than other athletes.

So if you want to live as long as an Olympian, the most important factor seems
to be the dedication to exercise, first and foremost. Engaging in the most
strenuous types of exercise did not yield greater benefits in terms of
lifespan, and in some cases, such as with power sports or contact sports, even
shortened it. Researchers noted:

"Among former Olympic athletes, engagement in disciplines with high intensity
exercise did not bring a survival benefit compared with disciplines with low
intensity exercise. Those who engaged in disciplines with high levels of
physical contact had higher mortality than other Olympians later in life."

When Exercise Causes More Harm Than Good ?

Your body is meant to be active throughout the day, and it's also designed for
intense, vigorous activity ? although the latter appears best limited to short
intervals instead of long, strenuous workouts.

Extreme endurance cardio, such as marathon running, actually damages your
heart, and can negate the health benefits you'd otherwise reap from a regular
fitness program. In the TED talk above, Dr. James O'Keefe, a research
cardiologist and a former elite athlete, discusses the fact that extreme cardio
can actually do more harm than good ...

As Dr. O'Keefe describes, extended extreme cardio sets in motion inflammatory
mechanisms that damage your heart. So while your heart is indeed designed to
work very hard, and will be strengthened from doing so, it's only designed to
do so intermittently, and for short periods ? not for an hour or more at a
time. Repeatedly and consistently overwhelming the heart by long distance
marathon running, for example, actually prematurely ages your heart.

Veteran endurance athletes have a five-fold increased risk of atrial
fibrillation, a dangerous irregular heart rhythm. Worse yet, some endurance
athletes also present ventricular tachycardia (a heart rhythm faster than 100-
120 beats per minute), which can lead to ventricular fibrillation ? a leading
cause of sudden cardiac death.

According to a study presented at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2010 in
Montreal, regular exercise reduces cardiovascular risk by a factor of two or
three. But the extended vigorous exercise performed during a marathon raises
cardiac risk by seven-fold!3 Researchers found that during a marathon more than
half of the segments in your heart lose function due to an increase in
inflammation and a decrease in blood flow, and this temporary heart damage may
play a role in marathon deaths.

Research by Dr. Arthur Siegel, director of Internal Medicine at Harvard's
McLean Hospital, also found that long-distance running leads to high levels of
inflammation that may trigger cardiac events,4 and a separate study published
in Circulation found that running a marathon lead to abnormalities in how blood
was pumped into the heart.5

Exercising in the "Goldilocks Zone" is Key

Too much of something that is normally good for you can have the reverse
effect, actually causing harm in lieu of benefits. This is definitely true of
exercise, and Dr. O'Keefe summarized the premise nicely in relation to runners.
As he said, runners do live longer ? in general, nearly 20 percent longer than
non-runners. However, he described new research that found that, to optimize
the health benefits from running, you'll want to run 5-20 miles per week ? the
ideal amount being 10-15 miles per week. Once you reach 25 miles or more per
week, the benefits actually disappear!

Also, if you run too fast ? over eight miles an hour ? the benefits tend to go
away (note we're talking about speed in long distance endurance running here,
not interval sprinting). It won't make your health worse than a non-runner, but
as Dr. O'Keefe says, if you put in that much effort, surely you'd want to get
some benefit from it!

In order to obtain the health benefits and increased longevity from long
distance running efforts, it seems best to limit your pace to six to seven
miles per hour (about a ten-minute mile). Lastly, if you run seven days a week,
the benefits also seem to disappear. The ideal amount was found to be between
two to five days of exercise a week. Instead of trying to figure out the narrow
window of therapeutic potential from long-distance running, a better
alternative may be what's known as high-intensity interval training.

High-Intensity Interval Training: The Most Benefits in the Shortest Amount of
Time

An accumulating body of clinical research now suggests that the best fitness
regimen is actually one that mimics the movements of our hunter-gatherer
ancestors, which included short bursts of high-intensity activities, but not
long-distance running such as is required to complete a marathon. The idea
behind "hunter-gatherer fitness" is to closely emulate the actions that ancient
man took on a daily basis. This is what your body is hard-wired for, after all,
and includes such attributes as:

A variety of exercises performed regularly (weight training, cardio,
stretching, etc.)
Alternate difficult days with easier days
Interval training sessions performed once or twice a week
Weight training at least twice a week
Ample time for rest after physical exertion
Your exercise program should be challenging, as it was for our ancestors, but
it should not be excessive and it should be paired with ample time for
recovery. Just as too much strenuous exercise can hurt your heart, too little
will not be enough to give you the benefits. The good news is, the most recent
research shows that relatively short bursts of intense exercise ? even if done
only a total of 20 minutes twice each week ? can deliver many of the health and
fitness benefits you get from doing hours of conventional exercise.

It also provides health benefits you simply cannot get from regular aerobics,
such as a tremendous boost in human growth hormone (HGH), aka the "fitness
hormone." According to fitness expert Phil Campbell and author of Ready Set Go,
getting cardiovascular benefits actually requires working all three types of
muscle fibers and their associated energy systems -- and this cannot be done
with traditional cardio. Here's a quick review:

Slow twitch (red muscle): Activated by traditional strength training and
cardio exercises
Fast twitch (white muscle): Activated by high-intensity interval exercises
(sprints)
Super-fast (white muscle): Consists of fast twitch AND super-fast fibers,
activated by high intensity interval exercises
Unfortunately, most traditional cardio and strength training exercises work
only red muscle fibers, completely missing your white muscle fibers, which then
atrophy. If your fitness routine doesn't work your white muscle, you aren't
really working your heart in the most beneficial way. Your heart has two
different metabolic processes: the aerobic, which requires oxygen for fuel, and
the anaerobic, which does not require any oxygen.

Traditional strength training and cardio exercises work primarily the aerobic
process and the slow twitch (red) muscle fibers. On the other hand, high-
intensity interval exercises work your aerobic AND your anaerobic processes,
which is what you need for optimal cardiovascular benefit. This is why you may
not see the results you desire even when you're spending an hour on the
treadmill several times a week. You're only working HALF of your muscle fibers!

In the case of these kinds of Peak Fitness exercises, less is more, as you can
get all the benefits you need in just a 20-minute session performed twice a
week. In fact, you should not do these exercises more than three times a week,
as if you do it more frequently than that you may actually do more harm than
good -- similar to running marathons or engaging in the more strenuous Olympic
sports.

Simple Tips to Exercise for Maximum Longevity

If you are using exercise equipment, I recommend using a recumbent bicycle or
an elliptical machine for your high-intensity interval training, although you
certainly can use a treadmill, or sprint anywhere outdoors. Just beware that if
you sprint outside, you must be very careful about stretching prior to
sprinting. Also, unless you are already an athlete, I would strongly advise
against sprinting outdoors, as several people I know became injured doing it
the first time that way. For a demonstration using an elliptical machine,
please see the video above. Here are the core principles:

Warm up for three minutes
Exercise as hard and fast as you can for 30 seconds. You should be gasping for
breath and feel like you couldn't possibly go on another few seconds. It is
better to use lower resistance and higher repetitions to increase your heart
rate
Recover for 90 seconds, still moving, but at slower pace and decreased
resistance
Repeat the high-intensity exercise and recovery 7 more times. (When you're
first starting out, depending on your level of fitness, you may only be able to
do two or three repetitions of the high-intensity intervals. As you get fitter,
just keep adding repetitions until you're doing eight during your 20-minute
session)
Cool down for a few minutes afterward by cutting down your intensity by 50-80
percent
In addition to doing high-intensity interval exercises a couple of times a
week, it's wise to alternate a wide variety of exercises in order to truly
optimize your health. Without variety, your body will quickly adapt and the
benefits will begin to plateau. Along with high-intensity interval training, I
also recommend strength training, core exercises and stretching (especially
active isolated stretches).

Source: www.drmercola.com

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In evidenza

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