Looking good……

Dear Reader

The basic message which I would like you to get from my blog is that exercise is good for you and essential to avoiding all the degenerative diseases of late life. Being physically fit protects you, increasing your lifespan but more importantly increasing your healthspan. Regular moderate to vigorous physical activity increases your chances of living a long and enjoyable life.

There are, of course, all sorts of nuances. The scientific literature continually provides extra information about ways in which exercise does you good – I keep a close eye on recent publications and try to bring you important advances in knowledge as they become available. This week I am starting a series on some of these advances and some of the surprising findings.

Does physical exercise enhance physical appearance?

In modern society, physical appearance significantly influences both social life and professional success. Looking good helps you in all sorts of ways. For instance appearance has an affect on workplace progress and career opportunities and contributes to self-esteem, self-confidence and gaining promotion at work. In later life, looking younger has all sorts of advantages in both the social and professional spheres. An appealing appearance attracts both interaction and approval ratings.

Exercise can contribute to physical appearance in a number of ways. Improved circulatory output improves skin health and slows several aspects of the ageing process. Regular exercise leads to better body shape by burning fat and building muscles. Better posture and standing taller are other features.

The question

How much might regular exercise actually improve appearance? A recent study from China tried to measure this. 25,460 respondents from the 2018 China Family Panel Study were tested. The main assessment of appearance was performed by observers who categorized each individual using a linear scale form from 1 to 7. Following methods from previous studies, the original appearance scores (1–7 points) were reclassified into three categories: “ordinary appearance” (1–5 points), “better appearance” (6 points), and “best appearance” (7 points). Exercise habit was measured by questionnaire and was then compared with the appearance score.

The answer

The findings indicate that physical exercise substantially enhances physical appearance, with its effects varying significantly across different populations. Specifically, women, urban residents, and those with lower appearance scores experience more pronounced enhancement from physical exercise compared to men, rural residents, and those with higher scores. Additionally, the effect of age on the impact of physical exercise on appearance exhibits an inverted U-shaped relationship. Middle-aged adults (40–59 years) experience the most significant improvements, while benefits are lower for adolescents (10–20 years), young adults (20–39 years), and older adults (60–80 years).

Pulchronomics!

What on earth? Well pulchronomics is the study of the economics of beauty and, yes, here the effects of physical fitness plays a part too. If regular exercise makes you look better it will also give you all the social and economic benefits of that improvement. A long term study of a group of children borne between the 3rd and 9th March 1958 has made some surprising discoveries. In 1965 the teachers of these children were sent a questionnaire asking for each included pupil to be rated as attractive, normal, unattractive or having abnormal features.  Long-term follow-up of this cohort confirms the advantages of being at the “attractive” end of the scale.

You might be surprised at the range of these advantages – the attractive earned more, were less likely to become criminals, and lived longer. If they were politically inclined they were more likely to win elections. Careers, income and love life all benefited. A US study has even shown that attractive murderers are less likely to be sentenced to death! Friendship, marriage, self-esteem were all areas of life which correlate with looks. The differences are small but enough to be statistically significant and to make it desirable to look better.

The conclusion

Being physically fit makes you more colloquially “fit”. Just saying.