Tour de Longevity
Maillot Jaune. Alpe D’Huez. Allez Allez!
Those are not names of hip underground bands, but words that are synonymous with one of cycling’s crown jewels, the Tour de France, which is currently underway. It would be understandable to think there is no way that cycling 3,328kms over 24 days can be good for you, let alone the hours upon hours of training to be able to complete the Tour.
It has been a long held belief that strenuous exercise is too much of a good thing, and actually taking years from your life. The heart is a muscle, so like any muscle in the body, if you stress it enough, it will change and remodel. Things like heart rhythm disorders are certainly not uncommon among endurance athletes. But there is hope! There is a growing body of literature that suggest that prolonged, high-intensity cardiovascular exercise might actually increase your life expectancy.
A study by Sanchis-Gomar (2011) compared mortality of cyclists that participated in the TdF between 1930-1964 versus the general population. They found that the age at which 50% of the general population died was 73.5 vs 81.5. Another study by Marijon (2013) had similar findings, while looking at cyclists that participated in the Tour between 1947-2012 (important to note that most cyclists that participated in the 2000s-present are still alive). It seems as though the benefits extend beyond cycling, with some studies looking at runners, rowers, and other aerobic sports.
But maybe it’s genetics. You could argue that to be an elite athlete, you must have a genetic gift. A genetic gift to excel at the sport, yes. But according to a study by Gomez-Gallego (2010), elite athletes are just as likely as you or I to be carriers of genes that might predispose them to diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc. What is more likely, is that athletes will generally carry on with healthier habits throughout their life, like drinking less alcohol, not smoking, and continuing to live an active lifestyle.
Time to address the elephant in the room: doping. There is no denying that the aggressive use of performance enhancing drugs by professional cyclists might not be captured in the populations that were studied by Sanchis-Gomar and Marijon. Certain drug types can negatively affect heart health, but their affect on life expectancy is unknown at this time. But I would like to think most of us age-groupers are not blood doping, so no need to worry!
There is still a lot of research to do to figure out why these uber-endurance athletes live longer, despite the heightened stress on the body and the documented changes to the heart. But where things stand right now, it would appear that intensity is a good thing, so long as you are medically cleared for it. So…who’s signing up for that next ultramarathon? Lol…
