Cardio Fit for Life

By Editorial Staff

A long life – as in less chance that you'll die before your "time." That's what being cardio fit in early adulthood through middle age can do for you, according to new research.

The stats don't lie: "Every 1 minute of higher early-adulthood cardiorespiratory fitness was associated with a lower risk of premature death, and every 5% increase in cardiorespiratory fitness retained throughout midlife was associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality." That's the conclusion from research involving nearly 5,000 adults enrolled in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study.

Participants were ages 18-30 at baseline and underwent follow-up examinations every 2-5 years for more than three decades to track how cardiovascular fitness correlated with health; particularly whether each participant experienced any nonfatal or fatal cardiovascular events (or died by any other cause) during the study period.

Cardio fitness was assessed via a graded exercise test protocol ["up to nine 2-minute stages of increasing workload, ranging from 4.1 to 19.0 MET (metabolic equivalent task)"] conducted at three time points: baseline and during year-seven and year-nine follow-up exams. The researchers note three primary findings of importance in their conclusion: "(1) higher early-adulthood cardiorespiratory fitness was associated with a reduced risk of premature death; (2) higher early-adulthood cardiorespiratory fitness was associated with a reduced risk of fatal or nonfatal CVD events; and (3) early-adulthood cardiorespiratory fitness retained through midlife was associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality. Now that's a win-win-win!