Is Exercise Killing You? Be Still!

Photo by A Brief Moment in Time.

We have some very healthy areas in the U.S. but after reading Dr. Nishant’s article on the Blue Zones I started to wonder why we don’t have more (areas where the population often lives past 100). There are many regions in this country where obesity is low and people are very active.

Wait a second, I thought, could that be it: activity?

While a great majority of Americans don’t get enough activity and suffer from chronic diseases and obesity, the other end of the spectrum is comprised of some super-active individuals who run, bike, and swim every day. Most Americans would say that a person who is active and has a resting heart beat of 32-34 beats per minute is very healthy.

Here’s what I say: over activity, much like under activity, is not healthy! To explain this, we have to ask what type of activity they do in those Blue Zones that allows them to live so long? It is a type of activity done on a regular basis that they can do well past 100 years old. These octogenarians are not biking at an average speed of 24.9 MPH to the gym, then doing an hour long, near the verge of breathlessness, kick-boxing class or spin class, followed by a circuit on the free weights and ending with 400 meters in the pool. Instead they’re gardening, walking, engaging in Tai Chi and other moderate low-intensity physical activity.

Chinese medicine supports my theory. Until recently, you would rarely see a Chinese person jogging. Why? Jogging induces excess sweating and creates “a loss of a fluid of the heart.” When the heart loses its vital fluids it also looses qi or energy. Copious amounts of sweating, as done in high intensity activity creates a slow, but steady depletion of one’s heart energy. The result is a slowing down of the heartbeat.

Also with the loss of heart qi the intense activity causes an increase in what the Chinese term “blood stagnation.” With the blood stagnation, one gets an enlarged heart. So even if a person has a very low resting heart rate, he would be considered weak or deficient by Chinese medicine standards.

I do not expect a person with a slow resting heart rate due to extreme daily exercise to live to be a centenarian. All of Chinese medicine is about balance. When we exercise at an extreme, our bodies respond in an extreme way, by wearing down quicker.

Want to live to be one hundred years old? Start by getting moderate low-intensity daily exercise. Health requires moving, not maximum intensity.

Here are some ideas:

• Find a local walking club: The Walking Site
• Learn Tai Ji: International Yang Style T’ai Chi Chuan Association or International Chen Style Taijiquan Association
• Plant a garden or work at your community garden: National Gardening Association

Dr. Gibran Ramos completed his six year training and internship in Naturopathic and Chinese Medicine at National College of Natural Medicine. Dr. Ramos helps patients transform their lives and optimize their well-being at a private practice in Portland, Oregon.