The way Swedish professor Fredrik Nyström puts things, health is simple. If you feel peppy, you’ll live longer and have a healthier heart. Also, intense exercise is a big no-no, and marathons will lead to your death. In a feature by The Telegraph, the internal medicine specialist and endocrinologist offers very controversial health advice, which you probably shouldn’t listen to.
In Nyström’s eyes, you’re increasing your risk of death by doing high-intensity exercise or running marathons because you “push the heart so far that part of it dies.”
“People die in big marathons all the time. Of course it’s not good for people to exercise hard,” he says.
The publicity surrounding a death during a marathon can be misleading, creating the impression that such incidents are more frequent than they actually are. A study in the National Library of Medicine saw only 26 deaths in 3,292,268 marathon participants over 30 years. That’s equivalent to only two deaths per 1,000,000 hours of high-intensity exercise.
Peppier people are healthier
The professor insists that happy people are healthy people, and has conducted studies measuring health outcomes using a scale of peppiness. “We put people on a scale one to five based on how peppy they felt,” he said. “Those who felt peppier, despite having the same or even worse physical health markers, lived longer and suffered less cardiovascular disease.”
Alcohol is good for you
Nyström also says drinking alcohol moderately is “probably even good for you.”
“We have a specific system to break down alcohol,” he says. “Why would we have evolved that if we weren’t supposed to drink it?” He insists that red wine, or the alcohol-content equivalent of vodka (or other liquors) helps to lower blood glucose levels, but fails to mention the negative side effects (cancer, mental health conditions and premature mortality and disability). Studies have concluded that no amount of alcohol consumptions can be safe for health.
Breakfast, carbs and snacking are bad
To maintain a healthy weight, Nyström also advises individuals to skip breakfast entirely, avoid carbs, stick to two big meals a day and avoid snacking. He also believes dieting “crushes you,” and is “what kills you.” However, each person is different, and higher activity levels will require more fuel to replenish depleted energy sources.
The professor believes his health advice will be lifesaving for some. “If I can make people feel less bad about the things they do wrong, some lives might be saved and people will have a higher qualify of life.”
It’s a frightening world we live in. Remember–keep training for that marathon and don’t believe everything you see on the Internet.
