Does exercise increase longevity? Well, up to a point. Getting off the couch and elevating your heart rate helps you live longer. But whether the time spent exercising is worth the increased longevity, to be pragmatic about it, is still up for debate.
From the time we were old enough to run around most of our parents told us to “get out and play”. As per usual, mom and dad’s advice was sound. The question is not “is exercise good or bad for longevity?”, but, rather, are the extra hours in the gym worth it, and how much exercise is “just right”? Our longevity tool tells us that exercising once or twice a week, as opposed to never or rarely exercising, certainly adds at least a year or two to your life. Further exercise, however, say three or more times per week, doesn’t seem to significantly further increase one’s lifespan, for males or females.
The wealth of research pertaining to exercise and longevity supports this idea that exercise increases one’s lifespan, until a certain point. The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion suggests that adults should do either 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week, 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week, or some equivalent combination of the two. This proposes a good starting point, but it’s unclear if this is a suggested minimum, or if exceeding this amount would be harmful, a query that New York Times writer Gretchen Reynolds refers to as a “Goldilocks problem.”
According to a recent U.S. study (conducted by the National Cancer Institute, Harvard University, and more) published in JAMA Internal Medicine, any amount of exercise is better than no exercise. In this study, 661,000 middle-aged adults were separated into categories based on how much they exercised per week, ranging from no exercise at all to 25 hours (10 times the federal health guideline of 150 minutes). The highest risk of premature death was found in the group with no exercise. Increasing the amount of exercise just a bit, still falling below the suggested 150 minute mark, decreased the risk of premature death by 20%, and exercising exactly 150 minutes per week decreased that risk by 31%. However, interestingly the optimal amount was not the suggested dosage of 150 minutes, but rather three times that. Exercising 450 minutes per week (7.5 hours) decreased the risk of premature death by 39%. At any amount beyond 450 minutes, the risk plateaued.
Though 450 minutes per week is the optimal minimum of exercise, this same study found that even at 10 times the suggested dosage (25 hours/week) the risk of premature death did not significantly decrease beyond 39%, nor did it increase, as some worried it may. An Australian study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, as well, agreed with the conclusion that, “a larger dose, for those who are so inclined, does not seem to be unsafe”, to quote a senior research fellow from James Cook University in Cairns.
Undoubtedly, exercise is good for longevity. But naturally, people want to know how many years they’re getting back for the extra hours of sweat. Not surprisingly, this is a complicated question, with an answer not entirely known. In a study by the National Institute of Health researchers examined the longevity gains made by adults 40 years or older, with varying exercise regimes. Keeping in mind other factors that could impact life expectancy, such as socioeconomic status, the study found that doing the recommended 150 minutes of moderate exercise (or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise) per week yielded approximately 3.4 extra years to one’s life. Doing twice the recommended dose meant an additional 4.2 years to one’s life. Even doing half the recommended amount made for gains of 1.8 years. Therefore, according to the researchers’ calculations, you gain seven extra minutes of life for every minute of exercise. As Tom Anthony, a Harvard University graduate who assisted in these calculations, said, “I wish I could get these paybacks in the stock market”.
Beyond longevity benefits, exercise has a number of health benefits, as well. These prosperity perks include a healthy weight, healthy bones, muscles, and joints, psychological well-being, and a lower risk of certain cancers and heart disease. Vigorous exercise in particular, just 20-30 minutes per week, can do great things for your heart health. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services differentiates moderate and vigorous exercise, saying “Moderate activities are those during which a person could talk but not sing. Vigorous activities are those during which a person could say only a few words without stopping for breath”. Of course, with vigorous exercise one must know their limits, as at a certain point the curve of its added benefits tapers off, and the risks of pushing oneself too far may cease to outweigh the benefits.
The research is clear: exercising regularly yields tons of positive effects, for your longevity, your physical health, your mental health, and your quality of life. As Dr. I-Min Lee noted in a CommonHealth article on Boston's WBUR, “Of course it’s not just how long you live, it’s how well, and exercise is key to quality of life, particularly in older age. My mentor said it best: It’s not the years you add to your life, it’s the life you add to your years.” So heed your parents’ advice, get up and out, and get moving.
