Longevity, facial skin… Does sport promote ageing?

Too much sport, kills sport? While the show Well done for you is in the studios of Europe 1 at Roland-Garros, it is an opportunity to talk about intense physical activity and the aging of the body. You have certainly heard people say that doing too much sport can have health consequences. But concretely, can too much physical activity make you age faster? To answer the question, Dr. Alexandre Marchac, invited alongside Julia Vignali and Mélanie Gomez, explains the impact of sport on skin and health.

Watch out for outdoor sports

Does running affect the shape of the face? “No, jogging does not make your face fall. On the other hand, it can dig it. It’s true that if you have a friend who started a marathon recently, he lost a trouser size and his face has thinned. Why? Because the fat on his face is reduced to the bottom of the cheekbones. So fortunately, we invented hyaluronic acid”, ironically the doctor at the microphone of Europe 1.

Sport is very good for the figure, but for the face, as with running, it can be counterproductive. “This sport will improve microcirculation, we will have a face that is still more hydrated, more toned. And at the same time, there is the problem of all outdoor sports, especially tennis. Here, it’s dramatic for the sun, it is the first enemy of the players. From the age of 20, you should never be on the courts without your SPF 50 and your cap, otherwise at 50, your skin is like a shoe all crimson “, alerts Alexandre Marchac.

Live longer and healthier

Present at Roland-Garros, Europe 1, the official radio of the tournament, is in contact with the athletes who subject their bodies to superhuman efforts. A question therefore arises: don’t they still get damaged doing so much sport? “They can get injured. You saw Gaël Monfils who had to forfeit because of his tendon injuries. And we know that in the long term, they have a career that finally stops because they have joint injuries But beyond that, if we look at longevity, studies show that athletes live better than people in the general population,” says Dr. Alexandre Marchac.

A study had just been carried out on people who had participated in the Olympic Games. 2,400 French athletes had participated in this great competition since 1948. “We saw that they had a 50% drop in mortality compared to the general population. It’s not nothing,” he notes. This was confirmed by a large meta-analysis with 165,000 professional athletes.

Is it the same result for all sports? “This is true for most disciplines, some more than others. There are sports that cause trauma, brain trauma or fractures (boxing, rugby). So strength sports are the worst On the other hand, what is very good are endurance sports. Tennis is one of them. It will lower the risk of cardiovascular problems and the risk of cancer”, specifies the doctor. These people will therefore live longer and in better health. However, the doctor indicates that between two hours and half and five hours of sport per week, there are enormous benefits on the longevity of the occasional sportsmen.

Winston Churchill, the exception?

How to explain these people who live a long time without doing sport? Like Winston Churchill, who died at 91 while smoking, drinking and playing no sport. “He had exceptional genetics. This allows him to exceed his potential. But if he had played sports, hadn’t drunk or smoked, he would probably have lived to be 100. What you need to know , is that Churchill lived the last years of his life in a bad state, with repeated strokes and ending up in a wheelchair”, specifies the doctor at the microphone of Europe 1.

The real question then: what do you want your last ten years to look like? “Sport is a fundamental component to live well and in good health the last years of his life”, assures Alexandre Marchac.