Fit Forever Is Better – and Take Out the Tape Measure

Years ago a horrified American journalist watched a game of hurling in Ireland and described it as a combination of ice-hockey and mayhem.

The other day I watched the Scottish version, known as shinty, which could be described as a combination of the brutal medieval sport of quarter-staffs and wrestling.

The game was being played on a rough pitch in the village of Lovat in the Highlands, normally a quiet place. But the calm was ruined by the clash of sticks and shouts of players as they pushed and shoved each other to get at the leather ball and belt it as hard as they could in the general direction of the goal.

“There aren’t many rules in shinty,” I was told by Dougie, an expert on the game.

Well, that’s pretty obvious.

As far as I can see, the only things you can’t do are hit an opponent on the head with your stick (not deliberately anyway), trip them up (unless accidentally), and swear (believe it or not). It’s a strictly amateur game and rules are rules.

What you can do is swing your stick as high as you like, stop the ball with your boot or body, slash wildly in the general direction of the ball, and barge with your shoulder.

And man, are those guys fit! It’s a huge pitch and they’re sprinting just about non-stop. As I watched, I was reminded of important new research about the connection between fitness in the young and longevity in the old.

What a game of shinty teaches us about fitness (and longevity)

If you’ve made your thirties, forties or fifties in shape, you’ve probably got a longer and happier life ahead of you than those who were overweight during those years.

But this appears to be particularly true of 17 to 29 year-olds, which seemed the age of the guys in the game.

The Science: Why staying slim young boosts longevity

These are the conclusions of the latest study from Sweden’s Lund University on the life-changing link between obesity and slimness. Nothing if not thorough, in a monumental exercise the institution’s researchers monitored 620,000 people over half their adult life to arrive at these findings — slightly alarming though they are if you’re on the wrong side of the tape measure but pleasing if you’re on the right side.

Of all the research presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Malaga, Spain, in May 2025, this was the one that probably grabbed people’s attention more than anything else because it found that obesity before the age of 30 nearly doubles the risk of dying before your time.

Nearly doubles!

It may not be cheerful reading but it’s hard to deny this much science, which argues that between 17 and 29 is the “critical life stage” in long-term health. If we keep slim in those years, we are much more likely to avoid such life-shortening conditions as cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

There’s a gender difference here too. Obese males under 30 are 79 percent more likely to die than slim ones while obese women of the same age are 84 percent more likely. As The London Times writes about the research: “Overall, every pound gained in weight during early adulthood increases the risk of early death by more than 20 percent.”

Waist vs BMI: The surprising truth about health risk

The researchers at Lund University are in the forefront of obesity research and they come up with thought-provoking studies almost as a matter of routine. For instance, one of their recent findings is that a simple tape measure is one of the best tools for establishing the likelihood of obese men suffering from various forms of cancer. Rather than measuring body mass index (BMI), which is more complicated, just run the tape around the waist.

Based on 340,000 men over a 38-year period, this particular study debunks some earlier thinking. As the paper writes, “BMI is a measure of body size but does not provide information on fat distribution, whereas waist circumference is a proxy more closely related to abdominal adiposity.”

To put it more simply, if you’ve got to loosen your belt you’re heading in the wrong direction.

I’ve committed that phrase to memory: abdominal adiposity. Apparently, men are more likely to store fat viscerally (abdominally and more obviously) while women are more prone to acquire subcutaneous and peripheral fat (more generally and more discreetly).

The Lund University study that shocked Europe

On the bright side, in one study after another Lund University’s scientists highlight the value of keeping fit. In another long-term exercise covering no less than 800,000 Swedes, Norwegians and Austrians, they show that metabolically unhealthy people – that is, those with high blood pressure, blood glucose levels and blood fats – run a higher risk of certain forms of cancer. This is regardless of body weight.

Once again, these conclusions shake up earlier thinking. “Being metabolically unhealthy is often linked to obesity, but you don’t have to be overweight to have a metabolically unhealthy status,” says Tanja Stocks, the study’s leader.

And there’s more!

In 2024 the institution conducted another in-depth study, this time of (wow!) 4.1 million Swedes, which is nearly half the entire population, and learned that obesity may make people vulnerable to over 100 different types of cancer.

I didn’t know there were that many.

Fit at Any Age: Why it’s never too late to get moving

This may not be easy reading but there's plenty that can be done to feel better now and protect your future health. It all starts with some exercise and a little bit of knowledge about balanced eating. It's amazing how quickly you can feel better.

I came away from watching my first-ever game of shinty with a genuine admiration for the players. I hope they keep at it.

Life’s more fun when you’re fit!