Fitness May Be Overrated For Adding Years to Your Years
I know this may sound like something I'm writing to excuse my own laziness and poor health habits, but I'm serious (at least sort of serious) about this: Fitness may be somewhat overrated as a predictor of whether you'll live a long life.
Fitness has lots going for it, but maybe not so much adding years to your years.
Scientists published a study in 2010 that suggested they are beginning to identify specific genes and combinations of genes in our fundamental makeup that lead to generally longer lives.
Those of us from families with very old relatives have suspected this for a long time.
If good old Uncle Ned and Aunt Netty tended their own gardens and cooked their own apple pies well into their 80s and 90s, it probably means I'll be around a few years to enjoy the fruits of their labor -- or maybe just the fruit and pies? Now, these genetics researchers aren't saying that fitness and healthy eating, sleeping, and eating habits aren't important.
But they are suggesting that all the healthy living we do may ultimately not give us longer lives if our genetic makeup isn't set up for it.
Which also explains those good folks who work really hard to stay fit, yet die much younger than Uncle Ned and Aunt Netty.
So, does this mean we should live with wild abandon, eating and partying our way through life, knowing the length of our days on this globe are already determined by our genes and we can't do anything about it? Should we tell all those expectant moms out there that the best prenatal vitamins and health cautions during pregnancy won't influence the health and potential long life of their new baby -- but that the important thing has already been decided when mom and dad mixed their gene pools together? Such attitudes and advice, of course, would all be pretty absurd.
No matter whether you have the "long life" genes or gene combinations -- you still are going to live, barring an accident, long enough to want the best quality of life you can have in the years you have.
So obviously, since we cannot control our genetic makeup and we aren't really certain about what "long life genes" are or exactly how they work, we have an obligation to ourselves (and our families) to live as healthy as we possibly can.
While geneticists were releasing their studies in 2010, my wife and I were coming to grips with her newly diagnosed diabetes.
She found out while she was hospitalized for something unrelated to diabetes.
Fortunately, with the doctor's advice and concurrence, we discovered it controllable through radically improved eating and exercise habits.
The "long life genes" study was interesting, but the diabetes diagnosis was a genuine wake-up call.
As a result, we've both lost tons of weight, feel better than we have literally in a decade, and whatever years we have left of our lives, they will be the healthiest and perhaps most enjoyable yet.
Nope, I can't -- nor can YOU -- do anything about the genes life and my parents gave me.
So I guess that means I'll stick to the daily exercise and healthy diet routine -- for a few more years at least.
I hope.
Fitness has lots going for it, but maybe not so much adding years to your years.
Scientists published a study in 2010 that suggested they are beginning to identify specific genes and combinations of genes in our fundamental makeup that lead to generally longer lives.
Those of us from families with very old relatives have suspected this for a long time.
If good old Uncle Ned and Aunt Netty tended their own gardens and cooked their own apple pies well into their 80s and 90s, it probably means I'll be around a few years to enjoy the fruits of their labor -- or maybe just the fruit and pies? Now, these genetics researchers aren't saying that fitness and healthy eating, sleeping, and eating habits aren't important.
But they are suggesting that all the healthy living we do may ultimately not give us longer lives if our genetic makeup isn't set up for it.
Which also explains those good folks who work really hard to stay fit, yet die much younger than Uncle Ned and Aunt Netty.
So, does this mean we should live with wild abandon, eating and partying our way through life, knowing the length of our days on this globe are already determined by our genes and we can't do anything about it? Should we tell all those expectant moms out there that the best prenatal vitamins and health cautions during pregnancy won't influence the health and potential long life of their new baby -- but that the important thing has already been decided when mom and dad mixed their gene pools together? Such attitudes and advice, of course, would all be pretty absurd.
No matter whether you have the "long life" genes or gene combinations -- you still are going to live, barring an accident, long enough to want the best quality of life you can have in the years you have.
So obviously, since we cannot control our genetic makeup and we aren't really certain about what "long life genes" are or exactly how they work, we have an obligation to ourselves (and our families) to live as healthy as we possibly can.
While geneticists were releasing their studies in 2010, my wife and I were coming to grips with her newly diagnosed diabetes.
She found out while she was hospitalized for something unrelated to diabetes.
Fortunately, with the doctor's advice and concurrence, we discovered it controllable through radically improved eating and exercise habits.
The "long life genes" study was interesting, but the diabetes diagnosis was a genuine wake-up call.
As a result, we've both lost tons of weight, feel better than we have literally in a decade, and whatever years we have left of our lives, they will be the healthiest and perhaps most enjoyable yet.
Nope, I can't -- nor can YOU -- do anything about the genes life and my parents gave me.
So I guess that means I'll stick to the daily exercise and healthy diet routine -- for a few more years at least.
I hope.