DR MICHAEL MOSLEY: Why running more WON’T help you to lose weight… and nor will it make you live longer

• A recent court case concluded that the benefits of exercise appear to have been exaggerated.

To tell you the truth, I've never been much of an exercise fan. Yes, I do resistance training at home most mornings, and I enjoy more unstructured activities, like swimming in the ocean or walking in the woods, but I also like to go for a run or , I don't think it's necessary to sign up for a gym, and I don't think it's appealing.

So I was pleased to read the results of a recent trial in Finland that concluded that, at least as far as longevity is concerned, the benefits of exercise appear to be overstated, and that large amounts of exercise may even be counterproductive. I did.

Sure, exercise helps in other ways, but it doesn't help you live longer. This is the latest addition to my long-standing list of common myths about exercise…

Myth 1: You’ll live longer if you do.

Let's start with new research. There's no doubt that moving away from your couch-bound life to being more active is good for your heart and your longevity.

But claims about years of extra years are based primarily on studies that ask people to fill out surveys and then track how long they live. The problem with this approach is that there may be genetic factors that extend lifespan and increase motivation to exercise.

To get around this, researchers at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland decided to examine the long-term effects of exercise in twins (as they share many of the same genes) in their latest study.

The results showed that being active was at most 7 percent less likely to die than being sedentary.

They also tested biological age using DNA methylation. This measures changes in your DNA and assesses your age more accurately than the age listed on your passport. This showed that very active or very inactive twins are biologically older than moderately active twins. Therefore, if you exercise too much or too little, you are more likely to age.

Why is strenuous exercise bad? Well, it can increase injury and seems to be bad for your heart, too.

A study of American football players found that they were 5.5 times more likely to suffer from atrial fibrillation than other players of the same age. Atrial fibrillation causes irregular heartbeats and increases the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Myth 2: It leads to weight loss

This claim is based on the idea that if you burn more calories through exercise, you will lose weight. Unfortunately, study after study has found that exercise alone is unlikely to lead to long-term weight loss.

Most of the hard work of losing weight is done by reducing your calorie intake.

A 2014 review published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics looked at the results of six large trials, comparing those who lost weight through dieting and those who lost weight through a combination of diet and exercise. It turns out that there was no real difference between those who reduced it.

One problem is that we often feel hungry after exercise and end up eating more.

Myth 3: Increases metabolic rate

Exercising increases your heart rate, which increases your metabolic rate and calories burned.

The problem is, your body doesn't like to lose calories, so it secretly responds by slowing down your overall metabolic rate for several hours after exercise.

This was shown in a 2021 study in which researchers at the University of Roehampton carefully tracked the calories consumed by more than 1,750 volunteers while going about their normal lives.

They found that when you exercise, you burn extra calories, but when you perform daily activities such as sleeping, your body compensates by consuming 28 percent fewer calories than usual over the next 24 hours. did.

And this effect appears to be most pronounced in overweight or obese people, those who are just trying to lose weight.

Myth 4: Gets an endorphin high

Exercise is often said to increase levels of endorphins, which are opioid-like substances that the body naturally produces.

But when researchers at Germany's Hamburg-Eppendorf University Medical Center gave volunteers a drug called naloxone, which blocks the effects of endorphins on the brain, they all got a “runner's high.” What I learned from running.

Most researchers now believe that the “high” results from the release of endocannabinoids, cannabis-like substances that are naturally produced in the body. However, only some people experience this. And sadly, I'm not one of them. A few years ago I took part in a study at the University of Nottingham, joined a group of keen runners and ran moderate distances. By the end, their endocannabinoid levels skyrocketed, while mine plateaued.

Having said that, I'm all for staying active and taking care of your muscles.

There's plenty of evidence that being active, whether it's walking, climbing stairs, or vacuuming, is good for your brain and can reduce your risk of problems like depression and anxiety.

It's also been shown that if you don't do strength training exercises like push-ups and squats, you can lose up to 10 percent of your muscle mass every decade after age 30, to the point where it's almost impossible to escape. Chair.

That's why I do resistance training every morning. However, I can't say this gives me any joy.

There is something unexpected inside the patient's body.

Did you read in an email a few weeks ago about a 63-year-old man from Missouri, USA, who was admitted to the hospital for a colonoscopy and a live fly was found in his intestines? That's it.

The patient had no recollection of swallowing a fly. In any case, the flies would not have been able to withstand the acid bath in their stomachs. The best explanation is that he must have eaten something with a fly egg in it and it hatched inside him.

This started a conversation with some of my doctor friends about the strange things they were finding in their patients. There were common objects swallowed by children, such as coins. And other objects inserted where they really shouldn't be.

One of the strangest stories was that a patient complaining of abdominal pain was found to have swallowed about 50 safety pins, most of which were open. He never explained why. And apparently these were not removed by doctors, but rather a wait-and-see…

I love cats and miss my Siamese cat, Finn, who used to curl up on my lap and purr. We're thinking about getting another cat, but a recent study by the University of Queensland found that owning a cat almost doubles the risk of developing schizophrenia or psychosis. I'm a little reluctant, but this is probably due to the parasite. Toxoplasma gondii is commonly found in cat poop. A high price to pay for having a furry friend.

big family?Why is 2 the optimal number of children?

My wife Claire and I have four children. I love them so much, but recent research has shown that having more children is associated with shorter lifespans.

It's not wear and tear. Some of the genes that increase human fertility also appear to make people more likely to die young.

Scientists have long wondered why some animals age and die faster than others. For example, why do parakeets live for 80 years, but rats only live for 18 months?

The general theory is that there is a trade-off between fertility, longevity, and availability to predators. Because parrots can run away from danger, the laws of evolution say it's worth investing in genes that promote longevity.

However, in the case of rats, there is a good chance that they will be eaten while they are young. Therefore, it is best to leave as many young offspring as possible in the hope that a few will survive. In other words, live early and die young.

The same seems to be true for humans. In a new study published in Science Advances, researchers from Michigan State University in the US combed through the medical records of around 276,000 British people.

They found that people who had genes that made them more likely to have many children were also more likely to have genes that made them more likely to die before age 76.

Additionally, this study suggests that the ideal number of children to have is two if you want to live a long life. Good to know, but too late for me and Claire.