GRN-250 Thought Exercise 2 There are an innumerable number of news article that makes claims about an activity, a food, or some sort of exposure that will either increase or decrease a person’s life quality, expectancy, or both. Some provide links or references to legitimate scientific studies or experiments, while many do not back up their claims with anything more than a dubious reference to scientific articles that are even more dubious in nature. With so many unreliable sources out there, I decided to try and choose a news article over a topic that has been heavily studied. To this point, I arrived at the conclusion to discuss the link between frequent exercise and the increase in expected life expectancy it provides. I found an article from the AARP website that discusses how physical fitness can raise life expectancy by various amounts depending on the amount of regular or vigorous exercise a week a person engages in per week. They reference a Harvard study that claims as little as fifteen minutes of exercise a day led to an increase in life expectancy of three years for an average person, which is a significant number. AARP also bring up studies that compare lack of exercise to smoking and cardiovascular diseases, making the point that the study referenced claims a lack of exercise increases your chances of premature death more than either smoking or having a cardiovascular disease. After getting the scientific jargon out of the way, AARP moves into discussing ways that would make it easier to exercise, such as going with a group or exercising in high-intensity intervals to lower the amount of overall time that a person would have to commit to the activity. Overall, the article seems to use legitimate studies and scientific data to prove that exercise, even a small amount a day, can help increase a person’s life expectancy and overall health. As promising and straightforward as the article sounds, it is anything but simple. Exercise as a concept can do amazing things for the life expectancy and health of those who engage it, but what about people who do not have the ability to exercise? For example, what about people who live in major metropolitan areas? These individuals most likely live in some sort of apartment, most of which do not provide exercise facilities for their tenants. Gyms in these cities have exorbitantly high rates per month, and there is simply not enough space for these people to get frequent exercise either inside or outside their apartment. What should these people do to be able to increase their life expectancy and health? The article does not explore this, but it should include alternatives for these people. Another group of people that can not participate in the exercise talked about in this article are disabled people, which is a large segment of society as a whole. People who have disabilities that do not allow them to engage in frequent, vigorous physical activity should also not be excluded. So, where the article gives sound advice about how exercise can improve health, it fails to include ways that can apply to people who do not have this option. Moving away from people who can and can not participate in the level of exercise referenced in the article, there are many people whose life course can have an impact on what is discussed by the AARP. A person’s life experiences are what shapes their actions, habits, and many other aspects of their life. Imagine a person who always bonded with their father by going on runs as a child; it would be easy to assume that this person would feel comfortable going to the gym on a consistent basis as an adult and fulfilling the requirements laid out in the article. On the other hand, imagine a person who has been harassed in the gym while trying to achieve an acceptable level of physical activity; this person would most likely have many reservations about going back to the gym, for fear of being exposed to this same type of people again. This is just one rudimentary example of how people’s experiences can have either an overly positive or negative impact on how they approach the contents of this article. There are many more nuanced situations relating to a person’s life course that could have a major impact on what they choose to do with both the scientific and opinionated pieces of this story. While there are many stories both in the news and on social media that makes bogus scientific claims about how various things will increase or decrease your overall health, this AARP article seems to use trustworthy scientific studies and conclusions to support its hypothesis that even a small amount of exercise can have a positive impact on life expectancy. The author, Michelle Crouch, references a Harvard study, a 2018 JAMA study, and many reliable statistics related to exercise from places such as The Mayo Clinic. In terms of scientific reliability, these are some of the best sources that can be used. While these statistics may be reliable and useful, statistics can also be misrepresented and misinterpreted; this is always a concern when reading articles that attempt to use statistics and studies to make its point. After having reviewed the relevant statistics and studies in the article, it is my opinion that that science and statistics in the article are reliable and should be considered “real science” when observing and viewing them. The overall dedication provided by the author seems to represent a reliable narrator of these issues, and someone who can be trusted to relay legitimate scientific data in their article. Finally, the most important question has yet to be answered. None of this matters unless people are actually willing to put their best foot forward and engage in the activity talked about in the article. Every year people make New Years’ Resolutions ranging from reading more to spending less money; one of the most common resolutions is to exercise or go to the gym more in the upcoming year. This resolution usually sticks for what feels to be around a month or two of the new year before people burn out and stop sticking to their resolutions. This could be used as a good anecdotal piece of evidence to say that, overall, people would not follow this guide to exercising more because they try to do it every year and for many reasons can not do it. On the other hand, if this information were widely disseminated people may have a change in their thinking. Fifteen minutes of exercise per day is not an undue time commitment, and it has been proven (by the studies listed in the article) to increase the life expectancy and overall health of those who engage in it. If the majority of the population was privy to this fact and accepted it as true, then I believe it is reasonable to assume that people would engage in this activity in regular intervals and for the amount of time that is needed to see results. Finally, the article reviewed provides legitimate scientific data and studies to back up their assertion that frequent exercise can lead to an increase in life expectancy and overall health. On its face this is a positive development, and without external factors it is, in fact, a positive development, but the article fails to address context or other mitigating factors for people who may not be able to engage in these activities. A section that expands on other ideas that can help people who can not exercise would help give the article more context. Overall, people could feel either upset or happy about this article given their own circumstances. If they are a part of the group of can not participate, then they may feel left out because of the lack of alternatives provided. People who already exercise at or above the amount listed in the article would most likely be satisfied with this article because it reinforces their current behaviors. The article is a sufficient piece of health advice but should have encompassed more information to help a larger set of the population reading it. Source Crouch, M., 2022. Daily Exercise Linked to Living Longer. [online] AARP.org. Available at: <https://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-2019/exercise-longevity-wellnessbenefits.html#:~:text=While%20any%20amount%20of%20exercise%20adds%20to%20life,analyzing% 20the%20link%20between%20physical%20activity%20and%20mortality. > [Accessed 24 September 2022].
