Longevity Bloomington Newsletter # 20 -Fitness as the 5th Vital Sign

Plus ways to reduce your sugar intake and a new member spotlight

Aug 12, 2023

Research Roundup - Fitness as the 5th Vital Sign

When you visit a healthcare provider, he or she will often take a measurement of your “vital signs”. A vital sign is a clinical measurement that can indicate how well your essential body systems are functioning. For example, elevated blood pressure is an indication that something may be wrong with the cardiovascular system and an increase in body temperature may indicate an infection. Currently, the four vital signs routinely measured in the clinic are blood pressure, heart rate, breathing rate and body temperature. Today, we are going to discuss why the American Heart Association believes that “cardiorespiratory fitness” should be added as the fifth vital sign routinely measured.

What is “cardiorespiratory fitness”?

Cardiorespiratory fitness (“fitness”) reflects your ability to transport oxygen from the atmosphere to your body’s cells to perform physical work. In order for this process to work successfully and efficiently, many different body systems must work together including your lungs, heart, blood vessels, brain and muscles. As a result, fitness quantifies the functional capacity of an individual and is a reflection of total body health.

Why is your fitness so important?

For over a century, cardiovascular disease has been the leading cause of death in the United States for both men and women. There are many ways to improve your cardiovascular health and lower your risk for developing heart disease, but improving your fitness appears to be one of the most important levers you can pull.

In 2016, the American Heart Association published a scientific statement outlining the importance of fitness in increasing both your lifespan and healthspan. Broadly, low levels of fitness put you at a high risk of cardiovascular disease, all-cause mortality and cancer. If that isn’t convincing enough, several studies have also shown that improving your fitness level leads to a reduced risk of developing both dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. This 2013 study showed that the most fit individuals had a nearly 40% lower risk of developing dementia when compared to the least fit individuals.

It is well established that smoking, high blood pressure, high levels of cholesterol and type 2 diabetes can shorten your life. What is less well known is the fact that many papers have shown that your fitness level is a more powerful predictor of mortality risk than any of these factors. This may be due to the fact that improving your fitness can have a powerful effect on reducing all of those above factors simultaneously. Getting more fit can lower your blood pressure, reduce your cholesterol and improve your diabetes.

How much of a difference can improving your fitness make?

At this point, you know that exercise is good for you. You probably also know that it might even lengthen your life if you do it consistently. What might surprise you though, is how large of an impact exercise can have.

A 2018 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association performed exercise testing on 122,000 individuals over a 13 year period. They compared the most fit individuals to the least fit individuals and found that those individuals that had “elite” fitness had an 80% reduction in overall mortality compared to those with low levels of fitness. 80%! A 2002 study looked at the relationship between fitness and stroke mortality and found that the individuals with the highest level of fitness had a 68% lower risk of stroke death than the least fit group. Those are large reductions in risk!

Don’t have the time or desire to develop “elite” fitness? You’re in luck! The largest health benefits from improving your fitness occur between the least fit and next least fit groups. In other words, you do not need to be an elite athlete to gain substantial health benefits from improving your fitness. The biggest benefits are seen in the folks that go from doing nothing to doing something. If you are already active, there is still added benefit and disease protection from further improving your fitness. There does not seem to be an upper limit on the risk reduction you receive from getting more fit. Some is good. More is better.

I will spare you from citing the hundreds of studies showing that an improvement in your fitness can substantially lower your risk of nearly all of the diseases that ail us as we age. Just realize that improving your fitness can lower your risk of heart disease, cancer, Alzheimers, dementia, stroke, and diabetes in a large way. One intervention can solve so many problems at once. The power of exercise lies in its breadth.

How to Reduce Your Sugar Intake

Most Americans consume far too much sugar. Added sugar is hiding almost everywhere in the modern diet and in many foods that may surprise you. Low-fat yogurt, BBQ sauce, ketchup, salad dressing, fruit juice, pasta sauce, granola, flavored coffee, breakfast cereal and many more all contain added sugar.

This added sugar is particularly dangerous because it makes it so easy to overeat. These foods taste good and have a lot of calories but do not fill you up. They aren’t filling because they often do not include the fiber that is present in more naturally occurring sugar contained in items such as fruit.

Here are a few ways to get started on eating less sugar:

1. Reduce or eliminate sugary drinks

Sugar-sweetened beverages are by far the largest source of added sugar in the diet. These drinks account for 47 percent of all added sugars consumed by the U.S. population. These drinks are liquified, flavored sugar that cause you to consume excess calories without filling you up. One 20 ounce bottle of Coca-Cola contains ~ 16 teaspoons of sugar!

source: https://www.bmsg.org/blog/three-compelling-ways-to-visualize-how-much-sugar-is-in-soda/

So how can you reduce your intake of sugary drinks? Try substituting with sparkling water, flavored seltzers or fruit infused water. There are a number of products in the grocery store today to satisfy your craving for carbonation without all of the added sugar. If it is the caffeine you’re missing, coffee and tea are great substitutes! If you take action on one item on this list, let it be this one!

Read food labels and find substitutions

Many of your favorite processed foods may be loaded with added sugar without you being aware of it. Check your pantry for the items you eat most often and read the food labels. Specifically, take a look at the “Added Sugars” section. You may be surprised by how much added sugar is hiding in the foods you eat most often.

For example, Chobani strawberry yogurt (pictured below) has 11 grams of added sugar (nearly 2.5 teaspoons) in just one serving! You could simply buy the Chobani plain yogurt with zero added sugar and add the strawberries yourself!

Another common culprit of added sugar is salad dressing. Many “low-fat” or “lite” salad dressings are loaded with sugar. Ken’s Lite Country French dressing has 10 grams of added sugar in just two tablespoons! Check the food label before you buy your next round of dressing. Better yet, make your own!

After you determine which foods have the most added sugar, find alternatives that have less of the sweet stuff. Initially, this may take a little more time at the grocery store but once you find the lower sugar options, they will become your default choice.

Eat more fruit

Fruit is miraculous. It is sweet and full of fiber and nutrients. It is nature’s candy. Although it is possible to consume too much sugar from eating fruit, it is not likely. Most fruit has fiber that causes you to feel full before you can overeat. For those of you that have a sweet tooth, fruit is the way to go. When the craving hits, reach for the fruit!

Here are some other tips on how to reduce sugar from the Harvard School of Public Health:

Choose plain yogurt with no added sugar and stir in fresh or frozen fruit or unsweetened applesauce and a dash of cinnamon.
Choose cereals with 5% of the Daily Value or less of added sugars and add sliced ripe banana or berries.
Choose water, seltzer, herbal tea, coffee and other beverages with no added sugar. Add a slice of orange, lemon, lime, or cucumber for a subtle flavor boost.
When a sweets craving hits, try one of these first: 1/4 cup of unsweetened dried fruit; 1 cup of ripe fresh fruit; or a 1-ounce square of 75% dark chocolate.
When baking, reduce the amount of added sugar by 1/4-1/3 cup. Or reduce the sugar by substituting half the amount with unsweetened applesauce or mashed ripe banana; for example, instead of 1 cup of sugar, use ½ cup sugar and ½ cup mashed fruit.
If you choose to enjoy a favorite treat high in sugar, practice eating a smaller portion than usual. Enjoy it fully by chewing slowly and savoring it.
Your taste buds can adjust to sweetness levels! As you consistently reduce your total sugar intake, you may notice your sweets cravings lessen or that certain foods now taste too sweet.

Member Spotlight -Janet Floyd

How long have you been a member of Longevity?
I joined the Longevity class as soon as it started and that will be 2 years ago in August.
What is your favorite exercise at Longevity? Least favorite?
I would say one of my least favorite exercises is the split squats but I have to say they have really helped me.
Tell us about your family. Any information about spouse, kids, grandkids that you would like to share!
Gregg and I have been married for 52 years. We have 3 daughters and a son and 8 granddaughters and 2 grandsons.
What’s something about you that not many people know?
Gregg and I met on a blind date at the Big Boy during our lunch hour.
What do you like to do when you’re not working out at Longevity?
I love to walk first thing in the morning. I have walked 5 days a week with a group of neighbors for 20 years and we all still enjoy it. I also love spending time with family.
What’s the next place on your travel bucket list?
If I could, l would love to take my family to London and Rome!
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Longevity Members In Action

Yoga Pose of the Month

Yoga Pose of the Month: A Half-Sun Salutation

This month’s pose of the month isn’t really a pose, but it strings together our first three poses of the month into a flow. A flow is a series of movements from one pose to the next. Flows help us find more grace in our movements. As I like to say, they help us get the rust off.

As we move from shape to shape, we move with our breath. In other words, the breath leads the movement. As you practice the flow and it becomes more familiar, the flow becomes a moving meditation. The breath might slow, the body relaxes and opens, and the mind clears.

In terms of the body, this flow combines all of the benefits of each of the poses involved: mountain, forward fold, and halfway lift. In a nutshell, the abdominals and spinal muscles strengthen and the back of the legs lengthen.

Here’s how:

1. Begin in Mountain pose (Tadasana). On the inhale lift your arms, the palms will come to face each other overhead (Extended Mountain pose).

2. From Extended Mountain pose, on the exhale, soften your knees and hinge forward at the waist, coming to Forward Fold. You can hold here, if you like, for a few breaths.

3. From Forward Fold with hands on thighs, shins, or a support, on the inhale, lift the chest, pull the belly in, and flatten the back as you come to Halfway Lift. If you like, you can hold here for a few breaths.

4. From Halfway Lift, exhale and come back to Forward Fold. Again, you can stay here for a few breaths.

5. From Forward Fold, press down with your feet and sweep the arms up as you inhale all the way back up to Extended Mountain pose. Or if your low back is problematic, from Forward Fold, bring your hands to your hips, bend your knees deeply, reach your head forward, pull the belly in, and flatten your back. With this length in your spine, take an inhale and hinge, with a flat back, up to stand and then extend the arms to Extended Mountain pose.

Check out this short video:

Try doing a couple of rounds of this flow in the morning to greet your day and warm up the body. You might also try it during the day to energize the body.

I hope you’ll give this a try. Come practice with us Mondays and Wednesdays 2:00-3:00.

~Patricia