Trump exercises his right not to exercise
Colleagues say he’s always ‘in motion,’ but presidency can pile pressure on anybody
He holds one of the most stressful jobs in the world, one he said was harder than he thought it would be, leading medical and health experts to wonder whether President Trump’s lack of exercise, sleep, eating habits and stress will catch up to him.
According to information his campaign provided last year to the Dr. Oz show, the 71-year-old president is 6 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs at least 236 pounds, which is overweight.
Stress is probably what ages presidents the most, says physician Anupam Jena, a Harvard Medical School health care policy professor and author of a study of politicians’ mortality rates. Along with the usual challenges of the job, after six months in office, “Trump has got an awful lot of stress with whatever’s going to happen with the Russian probe,” Jena says.
Jena, an internal medicine doctor, says healthy eating, increased exercise and a good night’s sleep can help political leaders offset their risk of earlier death.
Those who know Trump, including physicians, say they aren’t worried about him.
“The guy is not a health nut, but he’s always in motion,” says Chris Ruddy, CEO of the media company Newsmax, who has known Trump for 20 years.
Ruddy says Trump is always monitoring his own weight.
Washington cardiologist Ramin Oskoui advised Trump on health care policy during the campaign and reviewed Trump’s medical information last year. He says it “seemed fairly reassuring. He has high cholesterol and was taking appropriate medication.”
“He seems to have gotten good care and followed the recommendations of his internist,” Oskoui said in an email. “While the records were brief, they were pretty reasonably straightforward and transparent. I wouldn’t say the same thing about (Democratic nominee Hillary) Clinton.”
Harold Bornstein, Trump’s doctor until he started using White House physician Ronny Jackson this year, says he wrote Trump’s health report in five minutes and used the president’s “kind of language.”
Medical experts consulted by USA TODAY say Trump’s approach to food and fitness are frightening for a 71-year-old man under his amount of stress.
“Do I worry he’s going to have a heart attack or stroke in office?” asks Cleveland Clinic physician and diet book author Michael Roizen. “From a medical standpoint, you would worry about that.”
NO FAN OF FITNESS USA TODAY reported recently that neurologists say Trump shows most symptoms of sleep deprivation — including diminished cognition and anxiety.
Trump says everyone has a finite amount of energy to use throughout his or her lifetime, so he doesn’t exercise beyond playing golf, though he rides a cart on the courses. He is a fan of fast food, which he has discussed often in media interviews, or higher-end burgers at his country clubs.
Maryland sleep medicine doctor and neurologist Helene Emsellem says her appointments “invariably include a discussion of diet and exercise” as she tries to solve her patients’ sleep problems.
Despite its sleep-inducing qualities, Trump publicly eschews exercise.
“All my friends who work out all the time, they’re going for knee replacements, hip replacements — they’re a disaster,” Trump said in a September 2015 New York Times Magazine article.
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, an informal adviser to the president, says he finds Trump’s aversion to exercise irrelevant. “Donald Trump is one of those people who is genetically disposed to have high energy,” Gingrich says.
Besides, the president “golfs constantly” at such a rapid clip that it’s a form of exercise, Gingrich says. That’s despite the fact he uses a cart rather than walks the course.
Playing golf using a cart burns about half as many calories as walking, an average of 411 calories for nine holes, according to a study by Neal Wolkendoff of the Colorado Center for Health and Sport Science.
GOLF = ONE PIECE OF KFC That’s about the same calories in one extra crispy Kentucky Fried Chicken breast. It’s also slightly less than what Trump burns in three hours of sleep, says neu-
rologist Chris Winter, author of The Sleep Solution.
“For Trump, his lack of sleep can create problems with his weight” and metabolism, Winter says. Sleep deprivation suppresses the chemical leptin, which makes us feel full. “This will have the effect of making POTUS eat more to feel full,” Winter says.
Lack of sleep also can lead to an overproduction of the chemical ghrelin, which makes people crave bad foods, such as those with a lot of sugar and fat for quick energy, Winter says. Along with affecting insulin levels that can trigger the body to store fat, Winter says, sleep deprivation makes you less likely to exercise.
That’s if you were inclined to exercise in the first place.
Politifact, which has tracked Trump’s golf through public sightings and other reports, says the president has golfed 19 times from his inauguration through July 5. (The site compares Trump to former president Barack Obama, who had golfed eight times at this point in his presidency. During the presidential campaign, Obama was roundly criticized by Trump for golfing too much.)
“If you look at the data on exercise and health, there is a clear relationship,” says Roizen, co-author of a new book titled
AgeProof. “It makes you have less disability and lowers your risk of all-cause mortality, of cancer and of brain dysfunction.”
The Department of Health and Human Services and its President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition recommends 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity, 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity or a combination of the two every week.
That predated Trump’s administration, which has allowed the President’s Council to languish.