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Health See other Health Articles Title: How much exercise is too much? In a February study, Danish researchers followed nearly 1,900 runners for three decades and found that those who jogged slowly for up to 2½ hours a week lived about six years longer on average than those who ran longer and faster. Swedish researchers reported in June that elite cross-country skiers who had the fastest times in a 56-mile ski marathon or those who competed in the greatest number of those marathons were also 30 percent more likely than their fellow competitors to be hospitalized for an irregular heartbeat. “It appears that most people can get maximum health benefits with relatively low amounts of exercise, and that’s comforting,” said exercise researcher Dr. Carl Lavie, medical director of cardiac rehabilitation and prevention at the John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute in New Orleans. “You don’t need to push it longer and harder if you’re trying to make yourself as healthy as you can be.” Of course, the majority of Americans aren’t pushing themselves nearly hard enough, failing to meet the government’s exercise recommendations: 150 minutes a week of moderate activity (a 30-minute stroll five days a week) or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise (such as jogging briskly for 25 minutes, three days a week). Getting that amount of exercise has clear health benefits such as reducing the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and a variety of cancers, and helping people maintain their weight and muscle mass as they age. “Survival of the fittest doesn’t really hold true today,” O’Keefe said. “Survival of the fit will do just nicely.” There still isn’t enough evidence, however, to determine a safe upper limit for exercise, and it likely varies from person to person. Even researchers who have collaborated on studies don’t agree on how much is too much. O’Keefe advises those older than 40 to avoid marathon-length races because the training causes microtears in heart muscle that don’t heal as well as we age. Thompson, on the other hand, said participating in a long endurance race once or twice a year is fine at any age, barring any orthopedic issues in the hips, legs, or feet, or established heart disease that would require a doctor’s clearance. Lavie agrees but pointed out the dangers of entering such races too often. “There’s a small group of Americans who do some sort of triathlon every weekend or a marathon once a month — which no one was doing 20 or 30 years ago — and that I think is concerning because the heart never has a chance to recover.” While the risk of dying during a marathon is remote — 1 in 200,000 — the heart does need time to repair itself after competition. Studies suggest about one-third of marathon runners develop signs of heart stress immediately after a race, such as elevated troponin levels or enlarged heart chambers on imaging tests, but Lavie said these abnormalities usually vanish within a week. Whether elite endurance athletes live shorter lives than those who run, swim, or bike shorter distances in slower times remains unknown, though population studies indicate this could be the case. Until further studies can help physicians personalize their advice on exercise, researchers agree that the safest bet is to listen to your body and cut back if you experience pain or excessive fatigue between workouts. Many people check off marathons and triathlons from their bucket lists and then ease back into shorter workouts. Resistance training with weights, balance exercises, and stretching also become more important as the body ages, to combat the loss of muscle mass, balance, and flexibility. “Optimal aging includes not just cardiovascular fitness but retention of overall muscle strength,” Church said. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: X-15 (#0)
I have heard 60 minutes a day gives you max results. Over 60 minutes a day results start to decline.
God is always good!
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