Fitness Blog

Jane Brody, the nutrition and fitness writer for the New York Times is always a good read, but in this column, “To Avoid ‘Boomeritis,’ Exercise, Exercise, Exercise” she out does herself.

She clearly articulates that aging boomers must step up their exercise programs as they age if they are to enjoy injury free and active lives.  She clarifies that the concept of a half hour walk several times per week does not constitute sufficient exercise, (and it never did.)

She mentions says that, “in addition to activities like walking, jogging, cycling and swimming that promote endurance, cardiovascular health and weight control, there is a dire need for exercises that improve posture and increase strength, flexibility and balance. These exercises can greatly reduce the risk of injuries from sports and endurance activities, the demands of daily life, falls and other accidents.”

Musculoskeletal injuries are the number 1 reason for seeking medical care in the US at present.  How does one help mitigate their risk to musculoskeletal injuries?  The answer in strengthening your entire body by rigorous exercise.  This exercise is normally known by the term functional, core, or movement exercise, although Ms. Brody doesn’t use these terms explicitly. 

If you don’t exercise, what’s the result?  Boomeritis, a term apparently coined by Dr. Nicholas A. DiNubile, an orthopedic surgeon at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

 Here is a quiz cited in the column which was developed by two prominent physical therapists, Marilyn Moffat and Carole B. Lewis to assess the status of your posture, strength, balance, flexibility and endurance. 

¶Are you not standing as straight and tall as you once did?

Is walking up a flight of stairs a strain at times?

Are you getting up from a chair more slowly than you used to?

Is it getting harder to look to the left and right while backing up?

Do you get stiff sitting through a long movie?

Is standing on one leg to put on your shoe difficult or impossible?

Do you trip or lose your balance more easily?

Does walking or jogging a distance take longer than it used to?

The bottom line according to the quiz authors:   “The antidote to aging is activity.”

Read the whole article here.  But the advice from getfitsource.com is simple.   Do yourself a favor.  See a personal trainer today and develop a customized functional training program today and then stick with it on your own as you continue to age.  There is no quick fix; a long term commitment to a 3-4 times a week rigorous and intelligently designed exercise program is the most important component of your health as you age. 

This HealthDay News story via Forbes reports that the amount of fat in the diet may be linked to cancer recurrence in postmenopausal women who have been treated for breast cancer.

The study of 2,400 women, aged 48 to 79, found “the rate of cancer recurrence after five years was 9.8 percent among women who ate a low-fat diet (about 33 grams of fat per day) and 12.4 percent among those who ate a standard diet (about 52 grams of fat per day).”   The findings are reported in the December issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Read the whole article here.

This MedPageToday article recaps a British study that evaluated whether there was a correlation between the amount of height that men lose over time and their risk of death.  The study reported in the Dec. 11 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, showed a clear connection;  the greater the height loss as men age, the more at risk they are for premature death.

The excess mortality to due to shrinking was caused by cardiovascular and respiratory problems and other diseases, but not cancer. 

“The study involved 7,735 men ages 40 to 59 years, who were selected from one general practice in each of 24 British communities from 1978 to 1980. Twenty years later -- when the men were between 60 and 79 -- 4,213 surviving members of the cohort underwent a follow-up exam. “

“The study found that, compared with men who lost less than one centimeter in height (about 0.39 inches), those who lost three centimeters or more had a 64% increase in all-cause mortality risk.”

Physicians are apparently unsure why there would be a relationship between shrinking and increased risk of mortality.  One might link it to osteoporosis, but the study excluded the severe shrinking associated with that disease. 

According to the article it's possible the some underlying mechanism is responsible both for height loss and for other health consequences that combine to give rise to the increased risk of death.

This is interesting news but I’m not sure how we can use it to improve our health as the study didn’t evaluate effective means to combat shrinkage.  Intuitively, it would seem that rigorous exercise throughout the aging process would tend to minimize height shrinkage but I have seen no empirical studies of this.  It would be nice to see the next study on this issue include exercise as a study component with a view towards determining whether exercise correlates with reduced excess shrinkage.

A recent study, reported here in the NYT, finds that cutting back the amount of smoking is not an effective strategy for gaining health benefits.   The NYT article details a study, which appears in the journal Tobacco Control, which followed the health of more than 50,000 Norwegian smokers over more than two decades.

The results of the study, according to the article:  “The researchers found that those who reduced their cigarette intake by 50 percent or more did not have a better mortality rate from all causes of death than heavier smokers did. They did not even do better when it came to diseases specifically associated with smoking.”

The results are somewhat counter-intuitive but this quote from the article offers a possible explanation:

“It is unclear why those who cut back did not seem to be healthier. One possibility, the study said, is that to compensate for the cigarettes they give up, smokers inhale smoke more deeply and smoke more of each cigarette.”

In any event this study makes it clear that the only clear path to improved health for those currently smoking is total cessation.   And of course, total cessation  is the right answer for all smokers.

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