Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

dissolutewastrel OP t1_iyw5nh2 wrote

Reply to comment by InTheEndEntropyWins in Physical activity and health: Findings from Finnish monozygotic twin pairs discordant for physical activity by dissolutewastrel

Physical activity is definitely good for you. But what's the effect size? Here's a paragraph summarizing some data from the same study:

> All the twin pairs came in for physical examinations, and the results were pretty much what you’d expect. The exercising twins had higher VO2 max (38.6 vs. 33.0 ml/kg/min), smaller waist circumference (34.8 vs. 36.3 inches), lower body fat (19.7 vs. 22.6 percent), significantly less abdominal fat and liver fat, and so on. The study is free to read if you want to dig further into the details, but the results aren’t surprising. Exercise clearly improves a bunch of health parameters, and genes clearly matter too—after all, the differences aren’t that big.

https://www.outsideonline.com/health/training-performance/twin-exercise-research-2022/

6

FiestaBeans t1_iyyc1cw wrote

Those are pretty big effect sizes over a population.

5.6 ml/kg/min improvement in V02 Max

1.5 inches off the waist

2.9% fewer percentage points in body fat

"after all, the differences aren’t that big."

I bet a lot of doctors would love to see those differences in their patients!

2