Posts Tagged ‘lifespan’

An air quality study that has taken over 25 years to complete has determined that better air quality can increase an American’s lifespan by up to 5 months. The research was conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health. Although this should seem obvious, it’s the specifics of the study that are interesting. According to the researchers they “looked at fine particles that penetrate deep in the lungs, those that are not caught in the nose and the mouth, and directly damage the blood vessels. Most of those come from combustion, from automobiles, diesel trucks and buses and power plants.” These are the particles that can shorten lifespan. However, these are the particles which we can potentially control through pollution reduction efforts.

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Sure, we’ve always been told that exercise makes us healthy. That’s pretty hard to dispute. But, does exercise confer a longer lifespan? According to Stanford University researchers it does. In a study published today in the Archives of Internal Medicine, a comparison of middle-aged and older regular runners with healthy counterparts showed that vigorous regular exercise was associated with longer life and less disability in old age. The key word here is vigorous, by which the researchers mean running. What about running causing more injuries in old age? The researchers have also published another study in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine where they showed that running was not linked to greater rates of osteoarthritis in elderly runners, and they did not require more total knee replacements than non-runners. Full story.

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