Increased Physical Activity and Longevity

QUESTION: I guess there is no doubt that increased physical activity can
certainly make you feel better, and help fight heart disease. I think a more
important question is whether or not it will help you live longer? I would
like to think all this concentrated activity will give me a few extra years
here with my loved ones.
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ANSWER: A most interesting question with a bit of a new point of view. You
really made me do my homework. There are a number of research projects that
shed some light on this question, and here is a summary of one that may be a
bit controversial. Dr. Juha Pekkanen and associates from the National Public
Health Institute in Helsinki conducted a 20 year follow up of a 1964 study of
636 men between the ages of 45 and 64. These individuals had been grouped
according to their level of activity covering both exercise and work habits.
Work was classified as sedentary (desk job), moderate (truck drivers and shop
keepers), heavy (farmers) and very heavy (mostly lumberjacks). This broke the
group into two levels, 250 men with high overall level of activity and 386 men
with a low level overall. Follow up studies were conducted at 5, 10 and 20
years after initial examination and classification. For the first 2/3rds of
the study the men that had high physical activity had lowered mortality rates,
but this began to even out as the 20 year period approached. When adjustments
were made for smoking, blood pressure and cholesterol, the active group had
lived only a 2.1 years longer, but deaths from heart disease was lower in the
active group. Actually smoking was a greater predictor of risk of death,
increasing constantly with the years. Conclusion? Keep your exercise program
going, but be sure to stop smoking to obtain your goal.