Doug,

A question on exercise:  It is known that a training effect occurs with
the heart muscle with aerobic exercise.  Marathon runners have resting
heart rates in the 30's and 40's; and I understand that raw food
marathoners even drop into the 20's.  Mine (on a fairly sedentary regime)
is usually in the low 50's.  Mightn't exercise tone up the muscles,
including the heart muscle, such that they would operate more
efficiently, become stronger, and thereby last longer?

As a simplistic theory, suppose that we are each entitled to "x" number
of heartbeats per lifetime.  Well, when exercising, I am clearly
squandering heartbeats, but during the intervals between exercising, I'm
saving heartbeats if my exercise training has lowered my normal pulse
rate.  If the beats I save between exercise periods are greater than the
beats I squander during exercise, mightn't I be extending, not
shortening, my life by this athletic training?

Bob Avery ([log in to unmask])