IUBio

Live shortening effects of sport

H.O.van.den.Berg at Inter.NL.net H.O.van.den.Berg at Inter.NL.net
Mon Feb 12 15:24:37 EST 1996


selby at lenti.med.umn.edu (Scott Selby (Med-Hem)) wrote:
>
> H.O.van.den.Berg at Inter.NL.net wrote:
> You have ignored numerous human studies where sedentary lifestyles 
> coincide with increased risk for heart disease, stroke, etc. etc. and a 
> study done on rowers in the late 70's that showed that these athletes 
> (many of whom continued their sport after college) outlived there 
> classmates by 10-12 years.
> 

And so it should be, if moderate exercise results in healthier
lifestyle choices. But what about a healthy lifestyle with
a minimum of exercise, just enough to keep things functioning well ?

> This physiobabble is the same thing sighted by trash newspapers every so 
> often about the deleterious effects of exercise.  What you fail to 
> recognize is that in evolutionary terms, our vigorous types are probably 
> very sedentary compared to the gathering/hunting lifestyle of prehistoric 
> peoples.
> 
I hardly think they were jogging all day. Not used to it anyway.
(Remember what happened to the messenger at Marathon ?)
But you sure have a point that some fysical activity is normal
for human kind.

> Drawing parallels between fruit flys and human behaviour is ludicrous.  
> Paralysis in humans (the ultimate in non-activity) results in a decrease 
> in life-span of 5-20 years depending on the extend of injury.  While this 
> is complicated by the other health issues involved in spinal cord injury, 
> the 200% figure you sight in fruit flies should outweigh the deleterious 
> effects of spinal cord injury. 

Yes, I had wondered about that. Does anyone know how people in
a coma age ?

 While my reasoning in this argument is 
> ridiculous, at best, it shows the danger of taking wildly disperate 
> species studies and drawing conclusions about supposed health benefits or 
> deleterious effects.
> 
> I'll continue my fitness and diet.... (rest snipped) 

Oops, sorry. I didn't know I was touching a sensitive
spot there. Just trying to get discussion going.

Still;

Cheers,

Harrie




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