“I exercise to live longer!” is a thing people should stop saying. I mean they can say it, but, exercise doesn’t make people live longer. Unless the person was a chain-smoking, meat-eating, butter-drinking mess. Then technically, they’ll live longer but only because their lifestyle was leading them to a sooner-than-normal death.
Anyway, working out doesn’t make you live longer.
Contrary to previous research results and commonly-held opinion, exercising regularly does not mean you’re going to live longer. That’s according to researchers at Jyväskylä University, who found that lifespan was primarily affected by genetic factors rather than exercise levels.
The research was conducted using data from Finland’s twin study, which allows scientists to compare subjects with the same genetic background but different life choices and environmental factors.
Although researchers have previously found a link between cardiovascular fitness and lower mortality, the ”Physical activity in adulthood: Genes and mortality” study found that lab rats that increased their fitness did not live any longer than their lazier peers, but rather their genetic inheritance was more important in determining lifespan.
So stop going to the gym. Especially if everyone in your family lived to see old age. I stopped working out. I feel awesome. This is what I imagine death will feel like.
[via YLE]