Since then, there have been numerous researchers looking at the issue and a large study from Denmark has added some further evidence of the effect on longevity.

The Copenhagen City Heart study started in 1976 and is a prospective cardiovascular population study of around 20,000 men and women aged between 20 to 93 years. The study set out to increase knowledge about prevention of cardiovascular disease and stroke. Since then the study, which has resulted in publication of over 750 papers, has expanded to include other diseases such as heart failure, pulmonary diseases, allergy, epilepsy, dementia, sleep-apnea and genetics. The investigators have explored the associations for longevity with different forms of exercise and other factors.

For the jogging study, the mortality of 1,116 male joggers and 762 female joggers was compared to the non joggers in the main study population. Participants answered questions about the amount of time they spent jogging each week, and to rate their own perceptions of pace (defined as slow, average, and fast).

The first data was collected between 1976 to 1978, the second from 1981 to 1983, the third from 1991 to 1994, and the fourth from 2001 to 2003.

Results show that in the follow-up period of up to 35 years, 10,158 deaths were registered among the non-joggers and 122 deaths among the joggers. Analysis showed that risk of death was reduced by 44% for male joggers and 44% for female joggers.

The results showed jogging produced an age adjusted survival benefit of 6.2 years in men and 5.6 years in women.

The investigators found that between one hour and two and a half hours a week, undertaken over two to three sessions, delivered the optimum benefits. The ideal intensity was a pace that made runners feel a little breathless.

I suspect that there were very few people in this study who did higher intensity training, which is a more efficient way to achieve the same fitness results in less time.

I also doubt that many of these older athletes were doing regular strength training. If they had, perhaps they would have added closer to 10 years to their life.

Governments tell you, doctors should be telling you and I keep telling you through this newsletter.

The question I get most often, especially from older people, is how active do I need to do.

And the answer is – as much as it takes for you to be fit.

And here’s why – it’s your fitness that protects you. It’s not how active you are (although this obviously influences your fitness), but how fit you are.

A 2010 study showed that exercise capacity (fitness) is an independent predictor of all-cause mortality in older men. (Exercise Capacity and Mortality in Older Men. A 20-Year Follow-Up Study. Circulation. 2010 Aug 9)

Between 1986 and 2008, the researchers assessed the association between exercise capacity and all-cause mortality in 5314 male veterans aged 65 to 92 years.

They initially determined how fit each of the men was and then followed them for up to 25.3 years. During that period there were 2137 deaths.

Baseline exercise capacity (fitness) was a strong predictor of mortality, with the fittest men having the lowest risk of dying.

And the great news was that the unfit men who improved their fitness had a 35% lower mortality risk compared with those who remained unfit.

That means that being fit protects you from dying and whatever age you are, it is never too late to improve your fitness and get the benefits that go with being fit.

The study, published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, found that the running economy – how efficiently the body uses oxygen at a certain pace – of older runners was no different than that of younger runners.

However, moderating the good news about running economy, the researchers found that maintaining this running economy came at a higher “cost” to older runners. Their VO2 max, which measures the body’s capacity to transport and use oxygen during exercise, was significantly lower than their younger peers, as were their maximal heart rates.

For the runners over age 60, it’s physiologically more difficult to run at that speed, even though the absolute oxygen uptake value is the same as a younger runner. In other words, it will feel harder. (No surprise to us older folk there!)

Working with competitive male and female distance runners who had all finished first, second or third place in their age categories in large local road races, the researchers grouped their subjects as young (18-39 years), master (40-59 years) and older (60 years and over).

In addition to running economy, the researchers looked at other factors – strength, power, and flexibility ˜ that might explain how running performance declines with age.

The older runners fared significantly worse than younger ones on all three measures, helping pinpoint the sources of age-related performance declines.

Strength, in particular upper-body strength, is necessary to propel runners uphill and to hasten leg turnover.

Muscle power – how fast that strength is generated – governs the speed at which runners can change speed or direction or run up hills.

Flexibility, measured in this study with a sit-and-reach test to assess hamstring and lower back flexibility, correlates with stride length and step frequency.

These findings should by no means suggest that older runners should hang up their running shoes, the researchers say. “Strength declines with age, but you can minimize that if you do strength training. It doesn’t take a lot to maintain strength.” Older athletes especially need programs that enhance strength, especially upper-body strength, and power.

So if you’re finding your regular walk or run is getting harder, try adding some strength and flexibility training to your routine. It might make the difference.

The researchers hope to measure this same group of runners over time, launching a longitudinal study that will shed new light on the performance of runners as they age.

Intrinsically, people who exercise know that they don’t eat more, and some recent research has identified how exercise makes you feel full.

Brazilian researchers have discovered that exercise not only helps you shed kilos by burning calories, but also makes you feel full by triggering neurons in the brain.

Researchers at the University of Campinas Exercise say that exercise restores the sensitivity of neurons involved in the control of satiety (feeling full), which in turn contributes to reduced food intake and consequently fat loss.

The increased prevalence of obesity has become one of the most important health issues of this century. Changing eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle both have a role in the increasing waistlines we are seeing in both adults and children.

It is postulated that excessive consumption of fat creates failures in the signal transmitted by neurons controlling satiety in a region of the brain called the hypothalamus. These failures can lead to uncontrolled food intake and, consequently, obesity.

This recent research found that exercising obese rodents showed signals of restored satiety in hypothalamic neurons and decreased food intake.

In the obese animals, exercise increased certain proteins in the hypothalamus. These molecules were crucial for increasing the sensitivity of the most important hormones, insulin and leptin, which control appetite.

Exercise contributes to the prevention and treatment of obesity, not only by increasing energy expenditure but also by modulating the signals of satiety and reducing food intake.

Physical activity has long been considered an essential habit in the treatment of obesity, however, this research sheds light on another way in which exercise impacts the control of body fat. Besides reinforcing the necessity for regular exercise, it also changes the current paradigm of the relationship between physical activity and weight loss.

So what does it mean for you?

Developing the regular habit of exercise is essential to maintaining healthy body fat levels. Having an active lifestyle helps, but your exercise needs to be at a high enough intensity to increase fitness to have the most impact on satiety and body fat.

That’s a shame because exercising in cooler weather is just as, if not more, beneficial than exercising in the heat.

A recent study has highlighted how keeping cool means you can exercise at a higher intensity, and as I wrote recently intensity is important.

The small study examined the effects on various markers of health and fitness from holding a hand-cooling device during aerobic exercise.

Twenty four women ages 30 to 45 exercised three days a week for 12 weeks. Some held a palm-cooling device chilled to about 15 degrees Celcius during their workouts.

The others held the same device, but it was at normal body temperature, 37C degrees. All study participants worked toward exercising for 45-minute periods at 80% of their maximum heart rates.

During the three months the group that held the cooling device cut an average of five minutes off their time during a 1.5-mile walk, reduced their waist size by an average of almost seven centimetres, lowered their resting blood pressure and increased their exercise heart rate. Those in the control group saw no significant changes.

Keeping cool while exercising means the heart doesn’t have to work as hard since it isn’t trying to pump blood to the skin to cool you down. This means more blood can be pumped to the working muscles and you can exercise at a higher intensity. Which is a good thing.

So what does it mean for you.

Firstly, as hard as it is to get out of bed when it is colder outside, don’t let the cooler weather stop you from doing your exercise. Don’t be a bear and hibernate all winter only to have to do all the hard work in spring to regain your fitness.

Secondly, don’t think you have to add extra clothes to stay warm. It may be a bit cold when you first start but you will warm up from the inside soon enough. If necessary wear something you can take off and carry once you have warmed up.

If you live in the northern hemisphere and you are heading into summer try and do your exercise in the cool of the morning or evening.

Staying cool while you exercise means you get more benefit from your time and effort.

Well this might give you some peace of mind.

On a recent trip to the United States I went walking with a friend who was wearing an ad for identification bands for runners, cyclists and swimmers.

What a great idea. I’m often riding my bike on my own and if something happened to me, people wouldn’t know who I was.

I now wear a RoadID slim all the time. It is small enough and stylish enough that I just leave it on.

I got thinking as to all the people who could be that bit safer by wearing a RoadID and it’s just about everyone; from children to older adults, swimmers to skiers, runners to cyclists.

I was so taken with the idea that I asked the RoadID team if I could promote them on my website. And they said yes.

So, if you would like to look at all the RoadID options and choose the one that best suits you, click on the RoadID logo above.

Not sure? Here are 10 reasons you should wear a RoadID.

1. If you can’t speak for yourself, Road ID will speak for you.

2. Road ID enables First Responders to immediately contact family members and friends.

3. Road ID enables family members to provide additional details about your health or give consent for potentially life saving procedures.

4. Road ID enables hospital staff to locate vital medical records.

5. Road ID can communicate medical conditions or allergy information to medical staff.

6. Road ID can prevent serious delays in treatment by saving crucial time during the “golden hour” of medical treatment.

7. It’s far better to have Road ID and not need it than to need Road ID and not have it. It’s not just a piece of gear, it’s peace of mind.

8. Accidents happen far more than you think they do. Each year approximately thousands of runners and cyclists are taken to hospitals unconscious and without identification.

9. Road ID looks good on and makes a statement about your athletic lifestyle – not to mention that studies would probably prove that people that wear Road ID are considerably smarter than those that don’t.

10. Road ID can save your Life.

I am running my Build a Fitter Future workshop for the University of Western Australia’s Extension Program in a few months. The program is for those just starting out or regular exercisers who want to make sure they are on track.

If you want more information or to enrol go to UWA Extension online brochure here.

The studies used three different measures of how fit a person is. Fitness is determined by how INTENSELY you exercise not by how LONG you exercise.

The first study measured how fast a person can cycle; the second, how fast the heart rate recovers after you stop exercising; and the third, the maximal amount of oxygen that a person can take in and use.

A study from Denmark followed 5106 cyclists for 18 years and showed that men who cycled very fast survived 5.3 years longer, and men who cycled moderately fast lived 2.9 years longer than men who cycled slowly. For women the figures were 3.9 and 2.2 years longer (European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, February 2012;19(1):73-80).

The researchers state that the relative intensity, and not the duration of cycling, is of more importance in relation to all-cause and coronary heart disease mortality.

In the second study,(Journal of Internal Medicine, December 2011;270(6):589-96) 1100 healthy men, aged 42-61, exercised as hard as they could on a stationary bicycle to get their maximal heart rate, the fastest that their hearts could beat. Then they had their heart rates recorded exactly two minutes after they stopped exercising. The difference between maximal heart rate and the rate two minutes after stopping is called the recovery heart rate.

The men were followed for an average of 18 years. Those who had the greatest slowing of their heart rates (i.e. the fittest) were the least likely to have died during the follow-up period.

In the third study, 8,565 apparently healthy men were tested to measure the maximal amount of oxygen that they could use over a given period (VO2Max). This is considered the best measure of aerobic fitness but requires expensive laboratory equipment to assess.

Those with the highest ability to take in and use oxygen had the least high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and heart disease. Not surprisingly they also had the lowest calculated 10-year risk for heart attacks (American Journal of Cardiology, March 2012;109(6):839-843).

What do these studies tell us?

• That being fit is more important than being thin.

• That the intensity you exercise is more important than how long you exercise for.

• That you don’t need a lot of time to stay fit and healthy.

So next time you go out for your exercise, think about whether you are exercising at an intensity that will make you fitter. Are you going fast enough to get puffed and get your heart pumping.

If not you might be wasting your time.

The researchers found that employees who found the time to engage in physical activity were less likely to experience a deterioration of their mental health, including symptoms of burnout and depression. The best benefits were achieved among those exercising for four hours per week – they were approximately half as likely to experience deterioration in their mental state as those who did no physical activity.

The scientists state that employers will benefit from encouraging the physical fitness of their employees. If the fight against overweight and obesity isn’t enough of an incentive, inspiring workers to be physically active lessens high heath costs, reduces absenteeism, and increases productivity in the workplace.

The study showed that exercise and being physically fit help to preventing a downward spiral that affects work performance and the potentially the bottom line of companies.

Depression is a clinical mood disorder, and burnout is defined by physical, cognitive, and emotional exhaustion. Both contribute to a possible “spiral of loss” where the loss of one resource, such as a job, could have a domino effect and lead to the loss of other resources such as one’s home, marriage, or sense of self-worth.

The study was originally designed to examine the relationship between depression and burnout by assessing the personal, occupational, and psychological states of 1,632 healthy workers in both the private and public sectors. Participants completed questionnaires when they came to medical clinics for routine check-ups and had three follow-up appointments over a period of nine years.

The results indicate that an increase in depression predicts an increase in job burnout over time, and vice versa. But for the first time, the researchers also considered the participants’ levels of physical activity, defined as any activity that increases heart rate and makes you sweat. The participants were divided into four groups: one that did not engage in physical activity; a second that did 75 to 150 minutes of physical activity a week; a third that did 150 to 240 minutes a week; and a fourth that did more than 240 minutes a week.

Depression and burnout rates were clearly the highest among the group that did not participate in physical activity. The more physical activity that participants engaged in, the less likely they were to experience elevated depression and burnout levels during the next three years. The optimal amount of physical activity was a minimum of 150 minutes per week, where its benefits really started to take effect.

In those who engaged in 240 minutes of physical activity or more, the impact of burnout and depression was almost nonexistent. But even 150 minutes a week will have a positive impact.

Exercise and being fit helps people to deal with their workday, improving self-efficacy and self-esteem, and preventing the spiral of loss.

Most stress management programs focus on reducing stressful situations such as workload and the environment. However, as successful as these might be, life still throws us some stressful situations to deal with.

Being fit and exercising regularly is the best way to be prepared as the Scouts would say.

You can’t, and don’t want to, remove all stress from your life (only dead people have no stress), but being fit is your best defence against the negative effects of stress.

Smart employers can benefit by investing in the fitness of their staff. It doesn’t need to be a major facility or cost the earth, educating staff about how to stay fit when time is short and rewarding staff who keep fit are simple strategies any company can do.

If your company needs some motivation, information or strategies to improve the fitness and performance of staff, give me a call or drop me an email. Let’s get you and your company performing at the top of your game.

Well, this study might excite you.

According to researchers from Penn State University, people who are more physically active report greater levels of excitement and enthusiasm than people who are less physically active. People also are more likely to report feelings of excitement and enthusiasm on days when they are more physically active than usual.

It didn’t seem to matter how fit you were, people who were active, regardless of fitness level enjoyed a feel-good reward afterwards.

For regular exercisers, this might not be a surprise. But it can be helpful to motivate people to start and stick with their exercise.

Most people set health or fitness goals weeks or months into the future. And many give up before they achieve them.

By focusing on how they feel on the day after they have exercised, rather than on how much weight they have lost in 3 months or how much fitter they are in 6 weeks, they are more likely to exercise again tomorrow.

People like short term rewards.

The researchers asked 190 university students to keep daily diaries, including free-time physical activity and sleep quantity and quality, as well as their mental states, including perceived stress and how they feel.

Participants were instructed to record only those bouts of activity that were for at least 15 minutes and to note whether the it was mild, moderate or vigorous. Participants returned their diaries to the researchers at the end of each day for a total of eight days.

The researchers separated the participants’ feeling states into four categories:

1. pleasant-activated feelings exemplified by excitement and enthusiasm,
2. pleasant-deactivated feelings exemplified by satisfaction and relaxation,
3. unpleasant-activated feelings exemplified by anxiety and anger, and
4. unpleasant-deactivated feelings exemplified by depression and sadness.

They found that people who are more physically active have more pleasant-activated feelings than people who are less active. They also found that people have more pleasant-activated feelings on days when they are more physically active than usual.

The results suggest that not only are there chronic benefits of physical activity, but there are discrete benefits as well. Doing more exercise than you typically do can give you a burst of pleasant-activated feelings.

This appears to be the first study to have looked at the notion of activation in pleasant or unpleasant feelings.

“Knowing that moderate and vigorous physical activity generates a pleasant-activated feeling, rather than just a pleasant feeling, might help to explain why physical activity is so effective for treating depression.

Not only do you feel good, but you feel enthusiastic and energised.

So if you are feeling a bit flat, get moving and enjoy the feeling later in the day.