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We know the vast value to individuals and workplaces around helping employees stop smoking. Most recently, we reported about it here and here and here.

Now a new New York Times Well Blog piece outlines reasons why “Being Unfit May Be Almost as Bad for You as Smoking.”

The piece begins: “Being out of shape could be more harmful to health and longevity than most people expect, according to a new, long-term study of middle-aged men. The study finds that poor physical fitness may be second only to smoking as a risk factor for premature death.”

It's based on a study published recently published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology titled “Low aerobic capacity in middle-aged men associated with increased mortality rates during 45 years of follow-up.” The study's goal “was to evaluate the predictive power of aerobic capacity for mortality in middle-aged men during 45-years of follow-up.”

The NYT reports the powerful conclusion: “Poor fitness turned out to be unhealthier even than high blood pressure or poor cholesterol profiles, the researchers found. Highly fit men with elevated blood pressure or relatively unhealthy cholesterol profiles tended to live longer than out-of-shape men with good blood pressure and cholesterol levels.”

Particularly impressive in the study — the length of time over which it occurred. The study states: “In this representative population sample of middle-aged men, low aerobic capacity was associated with increased mortality rates, independent of traditional risk factors, including smoking, blood pressure and serum cholesterol, during more than 40 years of follow-up.”