Two American studies involving 10,000 subjects over the decades reveal that you don’t have to beat yourself up to get the secret of eternal youth
Move but not that much. So we could now summarize what two studies tell us about how to stay in shape without going overboard and lengthening our lives. The World Health Organization keeps repeating that we have to fight the biggest pandemic in recent centuries, which is not the covid, but sendentarismo. According to its experts, it would be necessary to take about 10,000 daily steps to do this, but now two studies specify that it may not be necessary to reach that figure.
To get older in shape it is not necessary to break down. Two new studies assure that it would be enough to reach 7,000 strides and practice some sport such as badminton, tennis, riding a bike or jogging about two and a half hours a week, as reported in the ‘New York Times’. These are not high demands, anyone with a little free time and desire can meet these requirements without sacrificing their social life or family conciliation.
In both reports it is stated that to be long-lived it is counterproductive to overtrain. And if we go overboard, it could even be harmful. Come on, here the ‘me plus’ is not valid, but we must heed the Aristotelian maxim of the right mean. A total of 10,000 men and women have participated in the research over several decades. And the conclusions are clear: if we follow this precept, we will be able to reduce premature death by up to 70%.
The first of the studies, carried out by the University of Massachusetts, focused exclusively on studying how the number of daily steps we take influenced our health. And he concluded that the 10,000 that applications, heart rate monitors and others recommend us is a myth. 2,110 people participated in it for 10 years. They were 40 when the project started and all their data was studied until they were 50.
During this time, 72 died, a small number, but logical considering that they were young people. In addition to this, the scientists also observed a close relationship between the number of steps and mortality. Those who gave about 7,000 a day when they entered the study were 50 percent less likely to die than those who did not. And this risk continued to decrease as they walked more, reaching 70 among those who gave more than 9,000. Of course, from 10,000, profits stabilized
25 years of activity
The second report referred to by the New York Times is from Mayo Clinics, and is based on the results of the Copenhagen City Heart Study. In this, 8,697 Danes participated, who signed up in the 1990s. 25 years later, half of them had died. However, the most active, those who did 2.6 to 4.5 hours a week when they joined, were 40 percent less likely to die.
Scientists have now tried to take these conclusions to the practical level and agree that doing two and a half hours of sport a week can bring us that benefit. That is, with half an hour a day we are served. And if we calculate it in steps, it would be between 6,000 and 7,000 each day. Although be careful, the experts also want to specify that meeting these conditions does not assure us that we will directly become the healthiest retirees on the planet or that it is the secret of eternal youth. What does seem clear is that if we do not move, we buy many tickets to say goodbye to life sooner.
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