I just did some sit-ups. I vow to do them tomorrow, too, and the day after that. Not many -- my abdominal muscles are somewhat out of shape. But
over time, a few exercises at a time, I will get them back into gear.
Why am I so motivated? Because of the clearest story I think I've ever seen linking the size of a person's waist to the risk of early death -- in some cases, it doubles the risk. Doubles it.
Even people who are not considered overweight have a higher risk if more of their weight centers around their stomach. Apparently the fatty tissue around your middle produces specific hormones and other chemicals that lead to the development of cancers and cardiovascular disease.
The study, published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, tracked nearly 360,000 people for about 10 years.
Here's a quote from one of the researchers:
"Although smaller studies have suggested a link between mortality and waist size, we were surprised to see the waist size having such a powerful effect on people's health and premature death," said Professor Elio Riboli from Imperial College London. "There aren't many simple individual characteristics that can increase a person's risk of premature death to this extent, independently from smoking and drinking," he said.
Here's a link to the story:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/11/14/big.waistlines/