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Comment by pingswept | Hacker News Reader

If it makes you feel better, each hour you spend exercising extends your life by around 3.5 hours (net 2.5 after the hour you spent) on average. These are just rough numbers, backed up by the Framingham heart study and an analysis of the Framingham data by Jonker, et al.: http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/29/1/38.full.pdf They say 2.5 hours per week over a 75 year lifetime makes you live 3.5 years longer, and 2.5 hours per week over 75 years is around 1 year.

(Of course, you might get hit by a bus tomorrow, but that's true whether you exercise or not. I guess you should avoid exercising near traffic.)

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1 of each 3 extra hours is sleep. Also, you have time for shows and change after exercise. It is close to a wash.

But I bet exerciser years are better than non exerciser years, in old age.

> each hour you spend exercising extends your life by around 3.5 hours [...] They say 2.5 hours per week over a 75 year lifetime makes you live 3.5 years longer, and 2.5 hours per week over 75 years is around 1 year.

That is significantly overstated. The study did not establish causation, only associations. The most that can be claimed is that A was predictor of B for group C.

If it makes you feel better, each hour you spend exercising extends your life by around 3.5 hours (net 2.5 after the hour you spent)

Doesn't that math make you immortal?

Exercise an hour, rest for 2.5, repeat forever ... (you also have to sleep, so exercise for 3 hours, sleep next 7.5).

Question is, would you rather have an hour in your prime, or 2.5 hours in retirement.

This is also why I smoke, I'd rather lose the shitty years at the end.

That's how it works, right?

not sure if this is just a joke but if it's half in ernest, I've seen a few people die in their 50's from lung camcer. I think when you're in your fifties you'd still have 15 good years or so. Maybe more.

My parents were heavy smokers. Their day to day lives were filled with a lot of coughing, even in their 30s.

Myself, I'm not overweight - I weigh about 60kg, and am 1.75m tall - but I don't exercise. I don't see that it's worth the amount of time it takes out of my day.

My perspective may change if I find myself physically challenged in anything I do. But that seems to be some way off just yet.

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