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Article Date: 14 Dec 2012 - 10:00 PST
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Olympic Athletes Live Longer Than General Population
| Patient / Public: |  | 3 (6 votes) |
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| Article opinions: | 8 posts |
Olympic medalists live longer than the general population, according to a new study published in BMJ.
The researchers compared the longevity of medalists from different countries, disciplines of sport and amount of physical contact involved in the sport. Their nationality made almost no difference to their longevity, making the researchers believe they have a "survival advantage" because of meeting physical activity guidelines.
In the first study, a total of 15,174 Olympic athletes were tracked between 1896 and 2010. On average, they lived 2.8 years longer than the general population of the same age, gender and nationality.
There was no difference of survival advantage found between gold, silver and bronze medallists. However, athletes who took part in power sports had a slightly smaller advantage than those in endurance and mixed sports.
The authors explained that genetics, lifestyle and wealth factors could be some of the reasons why the athletes live longer.
The second study analyzed the longevity of 9,889 Olympians from 43 different disciplines (of different exercise intensity) between 1896 and 1936.
Surprisingly, the athletes who took part in sports of high cardiovascular intensity had almost identical longevity rates as those who did low cardiovascular sports like golf.
The only substantial difference they found was among disciplines which involved a lot of body collisions, such as boxing, ice hockey and rugby. The athletes that participated in these sports had an 11% increased risk of mortality compared to the others. The researchers suggest that this could be a result of repeated injuries that occur when playing such sports.
At least 150 minutes of moderate exercise each week can result in an increased life expectancy, according to an editorial by two public health experts. They noted the need for more effort by the government to improve the number of hours people spend exercising. PLOS Medicine published research on how exercise can increase life expectancy.
They concluded:
"Our inability to improve physical activity is a public health failure, and it is not yet taken seriously enough by many in government and in the medical establishment. Although the evidence points to a small survival effect of being an Olympian, careful reflection suggests that similar health benefits and longevity could be achieved by all of us through regular physical activity. We could and should all award ourselves that personal gold medal."
Written by Joseph Nordqvist
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today
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28 Dec. 2012. <http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/254034.php>
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Visitor Opinions (latest shown first)
Just 2.8 yrs. for Olympic Athletes
posted by Dr Seshadri Reddy on 19 Dec 2012 at 5:26 pmJust to live 2.8 yrs longer than many, one need not be an olympian. Winston Churchill lived 92 yrs and when asked his secret, he replied: never played sport always enjoyed my cigar and whisky. The moral is one needs a longevity gene and a lot of good habits(Churchill was lucky, though he had a heart attack in US).
Not enough information Olympic athlete longevity
posted by bellasgra on 15 Dec 2012 at 10:57 amThink of it this way: say there is a special event, Old Peoples Olympics, where the contestants have to be 90 years old. Then the headline would read O. P. Olypians live longer. Of course, in this case it's automatic. Reduce the requirement to 60 years old. Now it's not quite automatic but the OPO still have a skewed advantage. The question shouldn't be how long do they live against the general public's average lifespan but the conditional out of those who reach the age of 60, what is the average life span.
Now, replace the 60 by say, 25 (or whatever the average age of a true olypian athlete is) and unless you used the conditional for 25 year old's, as above, your results are meaningless.
Also, having gained a medalist one could argue that the athlete from there on, in general, has an easier life than the rest of us which helps them achieve a higher that average age.
One of dumbest studies ever
posted by Steve on 14 Dec 2012 at 1:23 pmSo - exceptionally, healthy, world class athletes live longer? Wow! Who could have imagined that??
thanks, captain obvious - Olympic athletes live longer
posted by Luke on 14 Dec 2012 at 12:56 pm"The authors explained that genetics, lifestyle and wealth factors could be some of the reasons why the athletes live longer."
and so..... the extra time was spent in the gym
posted by Rich on 14 Dec 2012 at 12:42 pmWhen they really breakdown the data they will find that the 2.8 extra years were spent running or in the gym. Might be worth it. Who knows?
Athletes from Africa and the West differ.
posted by donald luke on 14 Dec 2012 at 11:40 amI would seriously doubt this is true if you compare athletes from Africa and athletes from the West. If you compare within countries this is probably true.
Really? Olympic athletes live longer?
posted by Brian on 14 Dec 2012 at 11:35 amWell, no sh*** Sherlock!!!
good grief charlie brown - Olympians live longer
posted by ralph fife on 14 Dec 2012 at 11:17 amand this was news because?? must have been a truly glacial news day...
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