Body Fitness Prolongs Life
Multiple studies have now shown that people who maintain
appropriate body fitness, using judicious regimens of exercise and weight
control, have the additional benefit of prolonged life. Especially between the
ages of 50 and 70, studies have shown mortality to be three times less in the
most fit people than in the least fit.
But why does body fitness prolong life? The follow-ing are the two
most evident reasons.
First, body fitness and weight control greatly reduce cardiovascular disease. This results from (1) mainte-nance of moderately lower blood pressure and (2) reduced blood cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein along with increased high-density lipoprotein. As pointed out earlier, these changes all work together to reduce the number of heart attacks and brain strokes.
Second, and perhaps equally important, the athleti-cally fit person
has more bodily reserves to call on when he or she does become sick. For
instance, an 80-year-old nonfit person may have a respiratory system that
limits oxygen delivery to the tissues to no more than 1 L/min; this means a respiratory reserve of no more than
three-fold to fourfold. However, an athletically fit old personmay have
twice as much reserve. This is especially important in preserving life when the
older person develops conditions such as pneumonia that can rapidly require all
available respiratory reserve. In addition, the ability to increase cardiac
output in times of need (the “cardiac reserve”) is often 50 per cent greater in
the ath-letically fit old person than in the nonfit person.
Related Topics
Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions, DMCA Policy and Compliant
Copyright © 2018-2024 BrainKart.com; All Rights Reserved. Developed by Therithal info, Chennai.