This week on Fitness Rocks I review two studies about exercise in “older” people. This podcast is relevant to “young” people as well as “old” people because it turns out that exercise provides you with a much better chance of getting to be old.
Play Podcast 148
The first study, which is also covered in Fitness Rocks Vodcast 002 (see the post directly below this one), looked at the effect of exercise in people age 70 – 88. Specifically, the researchers wanted to know if regular exercise in this older population of people would have an impact on longevity and functional status. The results of the study are impressive.
The second study looks at the easily measured physical parameter of maximal walking speed in people between ages 65 – 85 and how it relates to the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. Is the ability to walk relatively fast related to your risk of dying from a heart attack or a stroke? Check out the podcast to find out.
I also spend a few minutes at the beginning of this podcast talking about future podcast topics for Fitness Rocks. I will always cover studies about exercise and diet, but I’m interested in other issues that impact our health and I want to start talking about them. I’ve largely avoided these subjects in the past because I didn’t want to get into areas of “controversy.” But, there are lots of important topics for us to think about when we think about our health, and I want to cover some of them in this podcast. If you disagree with me on some of these issues then write a comment and tell me where I got it wrong. Avoiding controversy probably isn’t the best way to solve problems, so let’s have some intelligent conversations about big issues and agree to disagree about some of them.
Monte
References:
Physical Activity, Function, and Longevity Among the Very Old
Walking Speed and Risk of Cardiovascular Death
Related posts:
You go Dr. Monte! I think it’s great that you are addressing the full spectrum of issues that affect our health. We aren’t alone in our journey. What happens in our environment and in our government is very important to our health. The ability to have a thoughtful discussion is greatly appreciated. Different points of view can really help illuminate things as long as the name calling and blaming are left behind.
Thanks again for returning to your regular podcast. I push myself a little harder when you remind me of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
I agree with Sarah.
Also, I thought it was a very reasonable and open position that you stated at the beginning of the podcast (about wanting to inform, but more than happy to also be enlightened by facts).
Just a quick point about the vodcasts: I don’t know why, but I really liked the part where you went outside with the accompanying voiceover. I’d like to see more of that as it makes the vodcast more interesting to me than just “studio-based” content.
I have mixed feelings about expanding the range of topics. On one hand, I love this podcast and everything I have learned from you, Dr. Monte. If taking on issues beyond diet and exercise inspires you to keep producing shows then I hesitate to complain.
Like many of your listeners I listen to the show while exercising. My hour workout is the time of the day where I don’t worry about anything, step away from the world, and do something for myself. Fitness Rocks has always been such an inspirational podcast because you give us information to better ourselves and our health. I’m not opposed to topics like Global Warming because they’re controversial, in fact I think we share very similar beliefs on many social issues you’ve raised. It’s that I don’t want to listen to facts about a potentially unstoppable global catastrophe, that realistically I can do nothing about, while I’m exercising. I want to feel empowered, not depressed. At least for the hour a day I have to just run.
That said, I will give them a listen at least initially and will always be a subscriber for when the “traditional” podcasts come out.
Hi Traci,
I understand your point. And, I agree that Global Warming is depressing – my house is less than three minutes by bicycle from the ocean which evidently means it might be under water someday.
On a beautiful day on Cape Cod I can’t help but slip into the mindset that everything will be OK, not to worry. But, everything won’t be OK unless regular people like you and me do something to make it OK. All of us need to be one of those people who will “fix” the problem.
It’s too easy to pretend the big problems aren’t real, or that somebody else will fix them, or that they are just too depressing and scary to think about. By the way, I’m just as guilty of that sort of thinking as anybody else.
For the first three years of making this podcast I mostly stayed away from controversy (although, there is nothing controversial about Global Warming). I wanted to build an audience and I thought it was important not to offend people. Now I’m converting my podcast to a paid subscription podcast which would seem to make it really important not to offend anybody. But, here’s the deal: I want to make a difference with the work I do on this podcast. I could use my credibility as a doctor to sell dietary supplements or invent an outrageous weight loss diet – lots of other doctors have done that and done well with it. I could avoid the tough issues and just make money – that seems to be our modern culture. But, it just doesn’t work for me.
Fitness Rocks is not a podcast about how to get six-pack abs or bulging biceps. Fitness Rocks is about science. It’s about thinking rationally about the issues that impact our health. Global Warming and environmental destruction are absolutely central to our ability to be healthy. We ignore these issues at our own peril.
I’m saddened to hear any American express the opinion that there are problems so big, so “unstoppable,” that we can do nothing about them. That is not the spirit that built this country. I admit that I often think the same thoughts that you expressed, but I remind myself that we at least have to try to do something.
The main reason we are not solving the Global Warming issue is the billions of dollars being spent to disseminate disinformation in an effort to protect the financial interests of the industries responsible for creating the problem. The public can overcome this well-funded propaganda campaign by raising our voices. I have posted a URL at the bottom of this comment for a website that will give you the address of your congressman/woman and their web URL. Type in your zip code and you get the information. Click the link to their website and send them an email with this sentence: “I’m concerned about Global Warming and I want to know what your office is doing about it?” That’s how it starts. That’s how average people like us can solve the really big problems. Easy. Democracy is fun. Tell your friends.
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
Monte