Introduction
During the lockdown in 2020, I gained around 10 kg (22 pounds). The main cause was eating like a pig and not being active as I previously was. The only reason I left the house was to get more food. After a year, I started going to work and thought just being active again would be enough to shed the extra weight. Soon I realized it was not going to be as easy as it was at 22. At 28, it took me a year of working out fairly regularly to lose weight. If I put myself in the same situation again when I am 38, it will be 4 times as hard to lose even a few pounds.
As a person not at any health risk (like morbid obesity, smoking, or excessive drinking), you might start noticing age-related health changes like:
- Changes in your metabolism in your 30s.
- Muscle mass and strength start to decline in the 40s.
- For women in their 50s (post-menopause), estrogen depression makes women more vulnerable to health problems like cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, cognitive impairment, and different types of cancer (NAMS, 2014).
If you are in your twenties, you might have already started observing physical and cognitive changes in your parents or grandparents.
“Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that.” – Phil Knight, Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of NIKE
In the book, it is in the context of business but I think it applies to health as well. The rate of decline in overall health with age is not the same for everyone. People who are 60 but don’t look 60, have put in extra time and effort to maintain their health over the years.
The importance of strength training and its effect on comorbidities when you get older cannot be talked about enough. The focus of this post is to look at some of the ways to prolong a healthy state of body and mind (health span).
- The first step is to figure out if there is a measurable variable that’s associated with the risk of age-related comorbidities and mortality rate.
- The second step is to determine what’s my current fitness status based on that measure and how much I need to improve.
VO2 max as a measure of Cardiorespiratory Fitness
Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) can be directly measured as maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max) from a cardiopulmonary exercise testing or is often estimated as the exercise capacity from an exercise test (reference standards for CRF).
Last Monday, I was listening to the Huberman Lab podcast, and the guest on the episode Dr. Peter Attia briefly talked about a recent study that looked at the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and long-term mortality. The average age of the study participants was 53.4 [s.d., 12.6] years. Patients were categorized into 5 groups based on their cardiovascular performance:
- Elite (≥97.7th percentile),
- High (75th-97.6th percentile),
- Above average (50th-74th percentile),
- Below average (25th-49th percentile), and
- Low (<25th percentile).
Based on the classification of CRF by age and sex in the study (Table 2), and my VO2 max estimate from previous workouts and an online calculator, I’ll fall in the ‘Above average’ cardiovascular performance category.
Assuming that at age 50 I will still be in the above-average category, let’s look at the results of the study.
- Difference in the prevalence of comorbidities in the 5 performance groups
As shown in Table 1 below, the prevalence of associated comorbidities decreased significantly with increasing performance with the exception of hyperlipidemia. Eg. the prevalence of diabetes is 8.1% in the above-average group vs 2.4% in the elite CRF performance group.
- Difference in long-term mortality in the 5 performance groups.
Over the long term (median follow-up of 8.4 years; range, 4.3-13.4 years), patients in the above-average performance group showed a 42% increase in the risk of all-cause mortality compared to the High-performance group. Which is comparable to the risk of mortality among smokers (41%) and having diabetes (40%).
So, the study shows high CRF is significantly associated with decreased risk of long-term mortality. It also shows high CRF participants have a lower prevalence of related comorbidities compared to lower CRF groups.
What can we do now to be in the higher CRF performance group?
Take a guess. Yes, EXERCISE. Why doesn’t the answer change? Why is there no alternative solution yet? Why do I have to sweat to have a long healthy life? All those resources to find an alternate planet to live on should be re-routed on this issue. What do you prefer Mars landing or no leg day ever again?
Strength training in particular has a positive effect on cardiovascular fitness, muscle strength, and bone strength. It is a form of exercise in which you provide more than usual resistance to your muscles in order to build strength and increase endurance (Introduction to strength training). The resistance could be your body weight, dumbbells, resistance bands, or kettlebells. Obviously, the training plan will be different for different age groups, sex, and other factors. Everyone should do plenty of research before lifting even 500 grams of weight (Tips for safe strength training).
Disclaimer: This blog is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, or other professional health care services, including the giving of medical advice, and no doctor/patient relationship is formed. The use of information on this blog or materials linked to this blog is at the user’s own risk. The content of this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard, or delay in obtaining, medical advice for any medical condition they may have, and should seek the assistance of their health care professionals for any such conditions.
Comments
Comorbidities prevalence and long term mortality will increase if we fall low in CRF categories . Exercise and second one could be the eating habits too , to be at top In CRF categories.
Hi there! I’m at work surfing around your blog from my new iphone 4! Just wanted to say I love reading your blog and look forward to all your posts! Carry on the great work!
Author
Thanks for reading!
Top site ,.. amazaing post ! Just keep the work on !
Author
Thanks for reading!
Hey there would you mind letting me know which web host you’re working with? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 completely different browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot faster then most. Can you suggest a good hosting provider at a honest price? Thanks a lot, I appreciate it!
Author
I use Hostinger and don’t have any complaints yet. You can see their prices here https://www.hostinger.com/web-hosting
Youre so cool! I dont suppose Ive read something like this before. So nice to seek out anyone with some unique thoughts on this subject. realy thanks for beginning this up. this website is one thing that’s needed on the web, somebody with slightly originality. helpful job for bringing something new to the internet!
I believe that avoiding packaged foods would be the first step to lose weight. They could taste good, but processed foods have very little vitamins and minerals, making you eat more in order to have enough vitality to get throughout the day. If you are constantly consuming these foods, moving over to cereals and other complex carbohydrates will help you to have more electricity while ingesting less. Great blog post.
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your weblog posts. After all I will be subscribing in your rss feed and I’m hoping you write once more very soon!
I’d also like to convey that most individuals that find themselves without having health insurance are typically students, self-employed and those that are out of work. More than half in the uninsured are under the age of 35. They do not come to feel they are in need of health insurance because they are young plus healthy. Their particular income is frequently spent on houses, food, in addition to entertainment. Most people that do represent the working class either 100 or part time are not supplied insurance by means of their work so they head out without owing to the rising expense of health insurance in america. Thanks for the concepts you write about through this web site.
Another thing I’ve really noticed is the fact that for many people, below-average credit is the response to circumstances above their control. For instance they may be actually saddled having an illness and as a consequence they have more bills for collections. It would be due to a work loss or maybe the inability to go to work. Sometimes divorce proceedings can really send the financial circumstances in the undesired direction. Thanks for sharing your thinking on this blog.
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wished to say that I’ve really enjoyed surfing around your blog posts. In any case I will be subscribing to your rss feed and I hope you write again soon!
very nice submit, i certainly love this web site, keep on it
Magnificent goods from you, man. I have understand your stuff previous to and you are just too great. I really like what you have acquired here, certainly like what you’re stating and the way in which you say it. You make it entertaining and you still care for to keep it smart. I can’t wait to read much more from you. This is actually a tremendous site.
Awsome post and right to the point. I am not sure if this is really the best place to ask but do you folks have any thoughts on where to hire some professional writers? Thanks in advance 🙂
I was very happy to search out this net-site.I needed to thanks on your time for this wonderful learn!! I positively enjoying each little bit of it and I’ve you bookmarked to check out new stuff you blog post.