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I can see why just walking around where I live. When I walked down to Mount Vernon today I saw loads of "pregnant" middle-age male tourists, then just a few hundred yards beyond I was out on the bike trail was with the locals who were exercising and looked fit and trim. People here have money and access to gyms plus a lot of great outdoors. I'm sure it all boils down to socio-economic and education levels. I imagine some spots along coastal California probably come close to NoVA in this regard.
I can see why just walking around where I live. When I walked down to Mount Vernon today I saw loads of "pregnant" middle-age male tourists, then just a few hundred yards beyond I was out on the bike trail was with the locals who were exercising and looked fit and trim. People here have money and access to gyms plus a lot of great outdoors. I'm sure it all boils down to socio-economic and education levels. I imagine some spots along coastal California probably come close to NoVA in this regard.
I think you're right about coastal California. There was a cool map that went with the article-
By the way, for the record, Europeans and Asians don't "exercise" any more than we Americans do. In fact, they may spend less time exercising than we do. However, they generally eat a lot less than we do, and, of course, they do not drive as much as we do either.
I think you hit the nail on the head. They may not "exercise" as we define it (going to a gym) but they move around a lot more. They walk just about everywhere. It would be interesting to put a pedometer on the average American and the average European or Asian. I'm sure the latter would be racking up a lot more steps on a daily basis. If you think about it, a lot of American health problems are probably tied to our zoning practices. People here are forced to drive to their daily activities whereas in other places they can hoof it because it's all right there in their neighborhoods.
The map should hearten Democrats. If you were to overlay a blue/red political map on it I think you'd see that the blue areas have much higher life expectancy than the reds. No wonder the reds want to take away our Medicare. They'll be getting less of it!
The last time I took Vamoose, I was waiting for the bus at the Cosi in Rosslyn early on a Sunday morning and was amazed to see how many runners were out. It must have been a meetup because there was easily 50, maybe even 100 in this one group of runners.
LOL, this being DC it was no surprise that several of them were using it as an opportunity to do a little networking.
While they are certainly exercise, habitual running and jogging may not be such healthy forms of it. The stress they repeatedly place on major bones and joints can contribute to rates of injury and damage accumulation that end up limiting one's ability to engage in healthful exercise in later life. If routine stressful exercise were a key, professional athletes would end up being among our most long-lived citizens and of course, they don't. Low-impact exercises are in general those during which at least one foot is in contact with the ground at all times. Walking, biking, rowing of any sort, ice skating, and dancing (in most cases) are all examples, as are such things as yoga and pilates. And don't forget the water. Swimming, water-walking, and water aerobics are all great, and a vigorous game of water polo (if only you could find one) would be just about the perfect form of low-impact exercise.
In the end, simple genetics are responsible for about 25% of variation in longevity. Globally, two of the largest non-genetic factors are reliable sewage disposal systems and continuous access to safe drinking water. Those are presumably not factors in NoVa, though that couldn't be taken for granted everywhere in the US. Major factors under personal control start with reliance on a more veggie-dependent and less meat-dependent diet. Meat is a treat -- otherwise, eat some plants. Including some nuts. Maintaining active family and social networks is also a key, and so are not smoking and getting that regular dose of healthful exercise in one way or another throughout life. Those are pretty much the top handful of things you can do. Otherwise, there are still a lot of buses running around and you might be hit by one tomorrow if you aren't careful, so let's be careful out there, too.
Otherwise, there are still a lot of buses running around and you might be hit by one tomorrow if you aren't careful, so let's be careful out there, too.
But... please don't run in front of the "7 to 7 on 7" Bus. I don't want to see any of my friends get smooshed!
ps. I hear that your life expectancy will double if you post more on city-data. So keep those posts coming!
While they are certainly exercise, habitual running and jogging may not be such healthy forms of it. The stress they repeatedly place on major bones and joints can contribute to rates of injury and damage accumulation that end up limiting one's ability to engage in healthful exercise in later life.
I heard a recent report on NPR that said there's a recent study out finding this not to be the case. The orthodepists who did it concluded that this only occurs in people who are obese. They recommended walking for these folks until they got to a weight where running wouldn't put excessive stress on their joints.
I wouldn't hold pro athletes up as paragons of health as a lot of them only maintain good nutritional and exercise habits during their careers then become average slobs after. How many former football players have you seen interviewed who look like they went on the Madden diet after hanging up their cleats? Quite a few.
I heard a recent report on NPR that said there's a recent study out finding this not to be the case. The orthodepists who did it concluded that this only occurs in people who are obese. They recommended walking for these folks until they got to a weight where running wouldn't put excessive stress on their joints.
Would need a more precise reference to it to comment on the study. There are various such cited by runners and running groups. But regardless of what it is, running puts pressure equal to eight to ten times your bodyweight on your foot and leg each and every time it lands. The hard and soft tissues involved do adapt to such levels of stress, but for a regular runner, minor injuries are inevitable and eventual signficant injuries are probable. The risk rises signficantly for those who run vigorously in the nice weather, but taper off or even quit when it's hot or cold outside. If you just have to run, the best advice would be to do it on an indoor, soft-surface track, and to do it barefoot. Many of the expensive models of running shoes actually worsen the stress problem. The major benefits of running meanwhile are the cardio and weight-reducing effects it produces. Many also cite the "high" that running-induced hormones can provide. All of these can be achieved no less well through regular low-impact exercise routines. They provide all of the plusses, but none of the minuses. The key of course is that whatever the exercise routine is, it must be something you can do and keep doing over a long period of time. If only running fits that bill, you are better off running than doing nothing.
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Originally Posted by CAVA1990
I wouldn't hold pro athletes up as paragons of health as a lot of them only maintain good nutritional and exercise habits during their careers then become average slobs after. How many former football players have you seen interviewed who look like they went on the Madden diet after hanging up their cleats? Quite a few.
The average person does the same, and it is those upon whom the longevity statistics are based. The athlete by contrast will have had the benefit and advantage of several decades worth of rigorous and usually high-impact training. But they don't at all stand out as living longer than others.
ILD, I was wondering what affect (if any) our weather and relative lack of natural disasters might have on our life expectancy. It seems like most places that have long life expectancies have some form of cold winter weather. Yet, our winters are mild enough that it doesn't really stress the body or keep us from getting to the gym.
I'm sure that does play a role. Violent crime and military conflict certainly do. However, within the United States the differences based on these factors may be small, especially outside slums where violence death and drug overdose are more frequent occurrences.
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Originally Posted by CAVA1990
I think you hit the nail on the head. They may not "exercise" as we define it (going to a gym) but they move around a lot more. They walk just about everywhere. It would be interesting to put a pedometer on the average American and the average European or Asian. I'm sure the latter would be racking up a lot more steps on a daily basis. If you think about it, a lot of American health problems are probably tied to our zoning practices. People here are forced to drive to their daily activities whereas in other places they can hoof it because it's all right there in their neighborhoods.
I don't know how much I'd blame "zoning" per se rather than overall increases in mechanization and automation (yes, including more driving).
My wife's grandparents live in the rural Midwest and they and their peers have had rather amazing longevity, many of them living to their nineties. Most of them have lived a heavily automobile-based lifestyle (coudn't really go anywhere without cars), but they did much of their own manual labor. I remember helping my wife's grandfather fix his roof years ago and he was, at the time, in his eighties and almost losing his sight! Mind you, he retired as a senior vice president of a sizable company so there was no economic reason for him to risk himself thusly. Not at that age. Not in that incredible heat. But he wouldn't think of paying someone else for work he could do.
He lived a very stereotypically 1950's lifestyle -- grew up in a farm town during the Depression, went to college, went to war, married his college sweetheart, raised a family, worked very hard, went to church regularly, was active in the civic life of his community, fixed everything in his own house, farm and cars and generally lived an extremely clean and active life. He might, just might, outlive his own children.
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The map should hearten Democrats. If you were to overlay a blue/red political map on it I think you'd see that the blue areas have much higher life expectancy than the reds. No wonder the reds want to take away our Medicare. They'll be getting less of it!
Sigh... We're all having a nice discussion and you just had to inject this.
If "reds" had worse health, wouldn't they desire Medicare or any other form of subsidized care more than "blues"?
Does Utah seem that "blue" to you?
While I agree that some stereotypically "blue" or "liberal" factors favor longevity, there are also some stereotypically "red" or "conservative" factors that benefit longevity, like high church attendance rate. It's been demonstrated time and again that those with high church attendance rate (which correlate very well to political hues) tend to be happier and less stressed than their more atheistic peers. Happier and less stressed people tend to do better medically and in terms of longevity.
Anyway, don't forget that "red" areas also have much higher fertility, so your hope of outliving the "reds" through Medicare might not work out. They'll just sprout new ones like weeds.
Hey didn't someone mention a while back that NoVa also has the highest fertility rate?
I heard a recent report on NPR that said there's a recent study out finding this not to be the case. The orthodepists who did it concluded that this only occurs in people who are obese. They recommended walking for these folks until they got to a weight where running wouldn't put excessive stress on their joints.
I've seen studies to this effect. Although an intense amount of running on a very harsh surface (cement) can increase injury to one's joints, the cardiovascular and other health benefits far outweigh possible joint injuries. Most runners I know who run miles and miles daily are very conscious of this and take steps to minimize this (run on soft surfaces like grass, treadmill, sand, etc.).
Obese people who start major exercise programs, whether running or tennis or whatever, always have to be cautious.
There are also other sports you can do that are lower impact.
I don't like to run all that much (like I wrote before, I prefer a more, er, vigorous sport that engages my mental faculties against an opponent), but I do run 3-4 times a week and when I do I either use these (Kangoo Jumps Official Site, Rebound Exercise Shoes, Low Impact Jumping Shoes - Home) or run on the treadmill while watching a movie.
By the way, I meant to ask this earlier, is the NoVA region filled with adult sports leagues, such as soccer, touch football, basketball, softball, paintball, whatever? Anything that engages people into a community-oriented, calorie-burning activitiy? And how many of you regularly participate in such activities?
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