{"id":216026,"date":"2026-01-04T07:48:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T07:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/216026\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T07:48:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T07:48:07","slug":"cardiologist-reveals-why-extreme-fitness-doesnt-always-mean-good-health-stress-may-be-the-real-culprit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/216026\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardiologist reveals why extreme fitness doesn\u2019t always mean good health; stress may be the real culprit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There are many markers when it comes to gauging health and fitness, and VO2 max has gained recent popularity among them. According to Healthline<\/a>, it measures the aerobic fitness levels of individuals by calculating the maximum amount of oxygen<\/a> that the body can absorb and use during exercise<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"People People who have high stress levels should not do HIIT more than once a week, insists Dr Malhotra.(Pexel) <\/p>\n

Also Read | Doctor breaks down 3 common mistakes people make when dealing with a fever: \u2018Self medicating, ignoring red flags\u2026\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

However, fitness<\/a> levels should not be the only factor to consider while thinking of the overall health of a person. The subject was brought up by LiveMore Podcast host Rob Shakhani during his conversation with London-based cardiologist and public health advocate Dr Aseem Malhotra on his show, the full episode of which is yet to be released as of writing.<\/p>\n

Intense workouts do not guarantee good health<\/p>\n

At one point in the conversation, Rob shared that longevity experts are looking into VO2 max as they consider the benefits of exercising.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can understand how moderate exercise is more accessible to the general population,\u201d he said, \u201cbut do you think the evidence points to some level of intense activity being beneficial?\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Malhotra did not believe that was the case and stated, \u201cI think it\u2019s about balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he agreed that intense workouts may be beneficial to some degree, he did not recommend that people perform high-intensity interval training (HIIT).<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly, with the people I see that are super stressed and the people at risk of heart disease, I tell them no more than once a week they (should do HIIT),\u201d shared the cardiologist.<\/p>\n

Being a believer in the saying, \u201cYour fitness can improve, but your health can decline,\u201d Dr Malhotra cautioned that a good VO2 max level \u201cdoesn’t necessarily mean you’re healthiest,\u201d and we have to consider the whole picture.<\/p>\n

Stress plays a major role in health status<\/p>\n

Dr Malhotra noted that stress plays one of the biggest roles in determining the health status of individuals at present.<\/p>\n

When it comes to being a risk factor of heart disease, chronic stress is on equal footing with smoking 20 cigarettes a day.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd most people are not dealing with it, and we are more stressed than we have been, certainly in modern history,\u201d he lamented.<\/p>\n

Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.<\/p>\n

This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are many markers when it comes to gauging health and fitness, and VO2 max has gained recent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[90502,565,134,10845,130471,130470,111,139,69,87429],"class_list":{"0":"post-216026","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-chronic-stress","9":"tag-fitness","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-high-intensity-interval-training","12":"tag-intense-activity","13":"tag-longevity-experts","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz","17":"tag-vo2-max"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}