Health and fitness habits 'affect us 18 years later'

From their analysis, the investigators found all factors in all four stages had both a direct and indirect impact on participants' physical fitness and health in 1992.

Researchers found that current health and fitness habits may influence our overall health and fitness over the next 18 years.

The areas that had the most influence included migration background, socioeconomic status, stress management strategies, expectations of exercise impact, and physical exercise and nutrition habits.

However, the researchers found that nutrition and physical exercise habits reported at the baseline of the study affected the fitness of participants during the following 18 years later, up until 2010.

The investigators say they also found that migration background and socioeconomic status indirectly influenced health habits in the 18 years after study baseline.

Commenting on the findings, Prof. Alexander Woll, of the Institute of Sports and Science at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, says:

They say this finding could be due to the fact that the fitness test used in the study did not take endurance into account, and this is a factor that can largely impact health.

But they point out that previous research has shown that changes to physical fitness also influence risk factors relevant to health. The research team concludes that they plan to further investigate these results to better determine how health and fitness behaviors impact future health.