Of course you do sports to become healthy and stay healthy. But growing muscles is not only good for your health at the moment; you even have something to it in later life: you live longer if you have a good muscle mass!
This appears at least from a study by the Swedish Karolinska Institute. There, the muscle mass of more than a million young men was examined when they were between 16 and 19. They did a test three times which looked at how strong their muscles were, how high their Body Mass Index (BMI) was and how their blood pressure was. The boys were then followed for 24 years to see who would die prematurely.
Over 26,000 participants died during this quarter of a century. The main causes of death were accidents, followed by suicide, followed by cancer, heart disease and strokes. A third of the deceased participants died from other causes, all of which were classified under 'others' because of the calculations.
What turned out? Participants who scored above average on the tests in which the strength of their muscles was measured turned out to be less than 20 to 35 percent less likely to die prematurely from cardiovascular disease or 'other causes'. The chance that they committed suicide also turned out to be 20 to 30 percent lower. The risk of a mental illness such as schizophrenia or depression was even 65 percent lower.
The teenagers who came out of the test as weakly muscled, ran the greatest risk of dying early. The effect was even the same as the risks of premature death that are associated with obesity and high blood pressure.
The researchers think that strong muscles reflect your overall fitness. Not only physically, but also mentally, and in both the short and the long term. However, they emphasize that strength training does not necessarily mean that your life will be longer. But that sports are good for body and mind, they showed once again.
Source: health network
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