Mountain Living Has Its Benefits

[Guest guest]

Is mountain living healthier? Apparently so, at least if you're a farmer

or herder.

A 15-year study has found that Greek villagers living in the mountains had

lower mortality rates, and even lower death rates from heart disease, than

comparable villagers living in the lowlands.

In the study of three villages about 130 miles from Athens, Greek

researchers found that the effect of living in the mountains was especially

pronounced for men, who were almost half as likely to die from heart disease

as men living in the valleys. The mountain village was about 3,500 feet

above sea level, whereas the lowland villages were near sea level.

Reporting in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, the

researchers concluded that the benefit was most likely the result of the

increased physical activity of the mountain villagers, as well as their

physical adaptation to the lower oxygen levels of mountain air. They came to

those conclusions because the villagers at higher elevations did not have

either lower blood pressure or lower cholesterol levels -- two common

predictors of longevity and cardiac health.

The study followed 1,150 people and took into account factors including

age, weight, smoking, alcohol consumption and education. In all three

villages, the men were farmers and animal herders and the women were

homemakers.

Although overall mortality rates were lower for the mountain villagers,

they were not substantially so. Death rates from heart disease, however,

were significantly lower in the mountains, especially for men -- who spent

much of their days walking up and down the hills as they plowed the fields

and tended the flocks. It was that activity, the researchers concluded, that

provided a " protective effect " for the men.

-- Marc Kaufman