Runnning does not slow the ageing process

One reason why a lot of runners look at least their age is their diet. Many runners eat a lot of junk because they think they get away with it, equating body mass and fitness with health and youth but such is often not the case, as we know that some seemingly superbly fit runners die of heart attacks. The best thing that anyone can do to age well is to virtually eliminate all junk from their diet and eat fesh fuits, veggies, and whole grains as the staple of their diet.

NEMS wrote:

One reason why a lot of runners look at least their age is their diet. Many runners eat a lot of junk because they think they get away with it, equating body mass and fitness with health and youth but such is often not the case, as we know that some seemingly superbly fit runners die of heart attacks. The best thing that anyone can do to age well is to virtually eliminate all junk from their diet and eat fesh fuits, veggies, and whole grains as the staple of their diet.

I beg to difer, MOST runners i know are MORE concerned about what they eat than average....by a long shot.

And while i suppose i have heard of fit runners suddenly dying it is, SIGNIFICANTLY less common than in inactive people.

im not saying eating healthy isnt important, but that it is one piece of a two piece puzzle

Sounds like the difference between appearance and physiological age. I'll bet if you compared angiograms of runners vs. non-runners, you'd find that the runners' arteries are much cleaner. That affects a lot of things, including brain and cardiac function.

Even if it is true that runners look older, I'd much rather have a few more wrinkles than not be able to walk up a hill without risking a coronary.

I didn't start running with the hopes of it someday resulting in a invitation to a beauty contest. Everyone gets older and everyone dies. Some faster than others whether your a runner or not. The first thing people should do if they want to continue to look relatively young is to stop worrying about whether their aging comperable to others. Stress is the greatest ager and worrying causes stress.

Relax

Jtupper, you know what part of the aging process we are talking about. Do runners need Viagra sooner or later?That's the real MAX question.

jtupper wrote:

Depends on what part of the aging process you are talking about. .

It is all about the hormonal changes involved with running.

jtupper wrote:

Depends on what part of the aging process you are talking about. I tested 26 elite runners when they were 24 and again when they were 49. In terms of aerobic fitness they were in far better shape than those who did not run. One guy had a VO2max of 78 when he was 24 and 76 when he was 49 -- not a whole lot of aging going in that direction.

Did the 49 yr old look his age?

On the hypothesis that fluid flowing swiftly through a pipe is less likely to silt up that pipe as compared to fluid flowing sluggishly - I always assumed that a distance runner’s arteries would be less likely to clog up compared to an inactive person.

However, one of the hardest training runners I ever knew was found to have blockages of over 80% in the arteries around the heart area when he was in his 50’s and still running.

Maybe the genes you inherit have more to do with longevity (and looks) than any activity one gets up to in one’s lifetime.

The longest living relative in our family died at 103 fully compos-mentis. She only stopped cycling at 93. But she smoked all her life despite pleas to give up!

there is a difference between what people will commonly call "running," and what Nick Rose and others have done. chasing the specter down straightaway after straightaway cannot be good for the body in the long run (so to speak).

Tas wrote:

However, one of the hardest training runners I ever knew was found to have blockages of over 80% in the arteries around the heart area when he was in his 50’s and still running.

Maybe the genes you inherit have more to do with longevity (and looks) than any activity one gets up to in one’s lifetime.

No doubt genetics has a good deal to with atherosclerosis. Dana Carvey, for example, is a pretty good runner -- and Aggie -- but that didn't stop him from having sky-high cholesterol levels and bypass surgery at a fairly young age. I understand that high cholesterol runs in his family.

But if you could control for genetics, I think you'd find that runners have cleaner arteries than less active folks with the same genetic background. We know that running raises HDL a few ticks, and as others have mentioned, it's associated with better dietary habits, which would reduce cholesterol and LDL. And atherosclerosis is just the beginning. Running obviously helps prevent obesity and type II diabetes and all its associated ailments.

So eat your mileage. It's good for you.

We weren't talking about how healthy runners are in terms of age but what they look like physically. Runners generally look older than most people. deena drossin looks like she's 50

ruthless wrote:

deena drossin looks like she's 50

Nah:

ok. i'll give her 45

Running in general can help make you thinner, healthier, full of more energy, help you retain flexibility, and increase longevity.

Running to excess can damage joints and of course many people get too much sun.

Once body fat gets too low the wrinkles will be exaggerated. A little body fat helps give a healthy glow.

Francie Larreau once used the analogy of a fine tuned runner to a fine tuned race car. When you are running your best you are on the edge - close to disaster. When you push yourself to the very limit there is a price to pay.