Is exercise a complete waste of time?

The headline on a story in Tuesday’s Washington Post: “A Daily Workout Could Add 4 Years to Life, Study Says.” Summarized in the article, the research (analyzing longitudinal data from the famous Framingham Heart Study) concluded that “moderate activity” tacked 1.3 to 1.5 years onto a person’s lifespan. And “more intense exercise” added 3.5 to 3.7 years. On his Kausfiles blog in Slate, Mickey Kaus quite reasonably remarks, “Only 3.7 years? It almost doesn’t seem worth it.”