Gabe Mirkin, M.D.
In 1976, 413 high school runners in Finland competed in
a 2000-meter race. At the time of the race and in a follow-up
study twenty-five years later, the faster runners had much lower
blood pressures than the slower ones (International Journal of
Sports Medicine, July-August 2005.)
The researchers wanted to know whether a maximal
endurance test to measure aerobic fitness in adolescence would
predict high blood pressure in adults. This is the first study to
show that faster teen age runners have lower blood pressures
and that the lower blood pressures persist long after they stop
running. In their teens, the faster runners were more fit than the
slower runners, and their dedication may have persisted into later
life. Or the faster teen-age runners may have had some
physiological advantage that kept their blood pressure lower and
made them less likely to suffer heart attacks in later life. Perhaps
the faster runners were genetically superior to the slower
runners, or something in their lifestyles made them faster as
teenagers and also caused them to have lower blood pressures
throughout their lives. Either way, the findings of this study
should encourage early participation in sports and lifelong
exercise.
March 25, 2006