Pop Quiz time!  Which of the following people is the healthiest?  The marathon runner who runs for hours almost every day?  The weight lifter who lifts ridiculous amounts of weight every day?  Or the couch potato?  Don’t cheat, eyes on your own paper!

So what was your answer?  Was it the runner?  If they can run for hours then their heart and lungs must be in great condition, right?  Or maybe the weight lifter, they spend every day in the gym, they have to be healthy, correct?  It’s certainly not the couch potato, or is it?  Well, while it’s highly unlikely that the couch potato will be the healthiest, would you be surprised to know it’s possible?

It really comes down to what your definition of healthy is.  What is healthy?  Is it cardiovascular strength?  Is it muscular strength?  Is it longevity in life?  Is it how well you look?  It could be any or all of these things.  The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as, “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”  Doesn’t really narrow it down, does it?  In my opinion, it’s about sustaining a high quality if life as long as possible.  How long you can run, how much weight you can lift really tells us nothing about your quality of life.  Note the words, “mental and social well-being” in WHO’s definition.  You can spend all day in the gym to perfect your body, but is that an enjoyable high quality of life?  For some, yes, for most, not so much.

A quick note on longevity.  There is really no evidence that I’ve seen that links ANYTHING to a longer life span.  For every person out there that dies young while living a healthy lifestyle, there is hard living, smoking, heavy drinking, bacon for every meal eater that lives past 100.  It sucks, and there are plenty of things we can do to make sure we have the best chance of living a long life, but that doesn’t mean it will happen.  It’s about the quality of life, not the longevity.  Please don’t take that as me saying you should go out and smoke and drink and eat bacon every day.  That doesn’t exactly lead to a high quality of life either!  That’s a very rough life in fact.

Let’s look at that long distance runner again.  Obviously their heart and lungs are strong, but what about the negatives?  Most distance runners that have been running for a number of years will tell you, their joints hurt, badly in some cases.  The impact of running can cause serious injury over time.  Look at how many people get hospitalized while running marathons each year, some even die due to the amount of stress placed on their heart.  And if you run for hours on end, you’re body is now catabolizing itself, meaning, it’s burning its own lean mass (muscle, bone) in order to produce the energy needed to run that long, even if you have excess fat to burn.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking running, it’s actually high on my list of things that everyone should do.  The issue is going overboard.  Too much of anything can be a bad thing.

Now let’s look at that weight lifter.  This is the most common one I see in the gym, a man who can bench press 300 pounds…yet his stomach still sticks out farther than his chest.  His reaction to the fact that his stomach sticks out farther than his chest?  “I need to get my chest bigger!”  Yes, I’ve actually heard that statement from a fellow gym member.  I don’t care how much you can lift, if you don’t eat right and don’t exercise your heart and lungs, you’re chances of attaining good health aren’t very high.  Much like running, I’m not knocking lifting, it too is high on my priority list of things everyone should do.  It’s the lack of proper nutrition and cardiovascular training that’s the issue.

Now how about that couch potato?  That obese, pimply faced, smelly puke of a ….., wait you say he’s average weight?  And clear skin?  And doesn’t smell?  And he has an active social life and eats well?  Guess he just enjoys watching tv.  Ok, so it’s not the most likely scenario, but it gets my point across.  Healthy isn’t just defined by the physical.  Mind you, many illnesses can be brought on by the mental, such as excess stress or depression.  We have to balance all aspects of our lives to be healthy.

Like I’ve mentioned in past writings, moderation is the key.  You don’t have to be perfect all the time, a piece of pie on a special occasion isn’t going to make you unhealthy.  A piece of pie every day on the other hand, that’s another issue.  Eat well, stay active and social, keep your mind sharp and you’ll be set up to have the highest quality of life you can attain!