So, I was reading the Communication Exchange blog this week—Patricia Rockwell said, “communication researchers have found that it is difficult to make people more concerned about their health without making them overly fearful.” (You have to find a happy medium between too little fear and too much!)
Hmmm....What the heck is the answer, then? We can’t overly scare people into taking care of themselves—how about guilt! (Kidding.)
I know that before I became sick, I buried my head in the sand—hoped that I could cloak my bad choices in what I called “everything in moderation.” But the truth was, I had no idea how just a few simple decisions could make me feel so much better and add, statistically, years to my life.
Alright, if you haven’t been incentivized to get healthy up till now, here is a study that I think you will find interesting. Researchers at King’s College London have found that there are visible signs of cellular aging in people who are inactive… That means that if you’re not active, you’re growing older quicker than those that are getting plenty of exercise.
Kinda sounds simplistic, but how did researchers come up with this data? They studied 2,400 twins—measuring for variables like activity, smoking, and socioeconomic status. What did they learn? The telomeres—sections of DNA at the end of chromosomes in people’s white blood cells—were shorter in those that weren’t active. The shorter telomeres correspond to AGING folks. If you’re not getting exercise, you are getting older faster. Period. No joking.
Researchers suggest that living a sedentary lifestyle increases the risk of all aging related diseases and premature death. So what? Well, not only are you opening yourself up to age-related diseases if you don’t exercise, you are just plain getting older quicker than people that get some regular physical activity. Aargh!
And guess what, not only did the researchers find that lack of exercise ages you quicker, they measured this controlling for weight, smoking, and socioeconomic background. That means that if you’re a poor, overweight smoker, you can still fight off aging by introducing some physical activity into your lifestyle… Encouraging!
How much aging are we talking about? Well, the most active—over 3 hours a week, were compared to the least active—around 15 minutes a week… The most active participants had telomeres that measured the same as those 10 years younger—a decade…
Have you figured out where I'm going with this? If we don’t get off our bums and start moving, even you inactive skinny, non-smokers, we will still age quicker than if we took a few walks or a run during the week.
And if I’m not throwing enough at you, researchers have shown that if you get regular exercise, don’t smoke, drink moderately, and eat your 5 fruits or veggies a day, you can add 14 years to your life…
I always thought that I’d just take my chances—I wasn’t worried about what was going to happen to me 30 years from now… That was a mistake. Look, you can’t measure intervention, and now that I know better, I’m doing something about it. I still do stupid stuff like make cookies with my daughter and then chow down on them (that happened today—and they were damn good BTW) But that’s life; I’m back on the health ride the next chance that I get. I know I’ll never be a die-hard vegan, but I will make choices that are smart and research proven to give myself better odds of being here for a longer time. Why not? Life is fun ;)
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