Keeping the heart healthy is one of the biggest favors one could do to themselves, according to several scientific studies and articles. Human performance expert Dr. Andy Galpin recently elaborated on this in detail, with a special focus on measuring one’s VO2 Max.
The idea was to compare cardiovascular fitness and VO2 Max as a mortality indicator compared to other factors like smoking habits, illnesses like diabetes, or coronary artery disease. Dr. Galpin listed down several studies one after the other, describing how all of them proved this point through various experiments.
One of the key observations that Dr. Galpin highlighted was how VO2 Max did not seem to have an upper limit for its benefits. Therefore, one could never get too fit to reap the rewards of good health.
Also, cardiovascular fitness was inversely proportional to long-term mortality, which has been one of the primary observations in all of the research papers Dr. Galpin picked. Therefore, the higher the VO2 Max levels, the higher the preservation of risk against mortality.
“The rate of increase in performance against the rate of increase in VO2 Max starts to taper off. (But) we don’t see a similar thing with cardiovascular health.”
Another point that Dr. Galpin highlighted in the video was the importance of staying fit despite other mortality-dependent factors. While it isn’t necessary to be the fittest person in the world, it is crucial to stay as fit as possible to avoid the risk of an early death.
“You don’t have to necessarily be the fittest on the planet from a health and cardiovascular risk perspective, but you cannot be the lowest.”
Apart from Dr. Galpin, who had studied human performance and Kinesiology in detail, physician Dr. Peter Attia also talked about the immense benefits of VO2 Max measurements. In a separate podcast, he declared the metric to be the best one out there.
Dr. Peter Attia echoes Dr. Andy Galpin in support of VO2 Max as a mortality indicator
In a conversation about longevity and lifestyle changes, Dr. Attia spoke to sports scientist Olav Aleksander about the metric. A favorite amongst athletes to measure and analyze their oxygen intake and workout efficiency, VO2 Max had a lot to provide.
Since it measures the amount of oxygen consumed by the subject, which determines the body’s ability to retain it and become better, it reigns supreme over other mortality indicators. This is why Dr. Attia believed that VO2 Max was the best indicator of one’s lifespan, without having other health metrics in context.
