The other day the Washington Post ran a story entitled "A Daily Workout Could Add 4 Years to Life, Study Says." Of course, my first thought was "Whew, thank goodness I work out." Followed immediately by "WTF?! Only 4 years?! Hardly seems worth it." Basically the article says that that “moderate activity” tacked 1.3 to 1.5 years onto a person’s lifespan while “more intense exercise” added 3.5 to 3.7 years.Indeed, once you do a little arithmetic, it doesn’t seem worth it at all.
Here's the math: Let’s say a man age 20 begins exercising for an hour a day and keeps doing so until he hits age 70. Not even counting leap years, this adds up to 18,250 hours over the course of the 50 years—i.e., slightly more than two years spent exercising. Subtract this from the 3.7 years he gains, and he’s left with a net increase of less than two years of usable lifespan. Factor in travel time to and from the gym (to say nothing of time spent buying sneakers and other workout apparel), and it’s probably a wash. Moreover, he’ll have burned up a lot of youthful time in order to add more years in his 80s, which seems like a poor tradeoff.
And with that...I'm going to go hit the gym.
