Exercising 2-4 times a week lowers risk of mortality in adults: Study

The benefits of exercise have been spoken about for the longest time While it keeps a person fit a new study has now found that it can actually reduce the risk of mortality The study involving more than 100000 participants and a 30year followup period discovered that persons who engage in advised moderate or vigorous physical exercise two to four times a week have a considerably reduced risk of mortalityFor those who engaged in the recommended amount of strenuous physical activity each week the reduction was 2123 per cent and for those who did the same amount of moderate physical activity each week it was 2631 per cent according to the new studyThe findings of the study were published in the American Heart Associations flagship peerreviewed journal Circulation It is well documented that regular physical activity is associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and premature death In 2018 the United States Department of Health and Human Services Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommended that adults engage in at least 150300 minutesweek of moderate physical activity or 75150 minutesweek of vigorous physical activity or an equivalent combination of both intensitiesThe American Heart Associations current recommendations which are based on HHSs Physical Activity Guidelines are for at least 150 minutes per week of moderateintensity aerobic exercise or 75 minutes per week or vigorous aerobic exercise or a combination of bothThe potential impact of physical activity on health is great yet it remains unclear whether engaging in high levels of prolonged vigorous or moderate intensity physical activity above the recommended levels provides any additional benefits or harmful effects on cardiovascular health said Dong Hoon Lee ScD MS a research associate in the department of nutrition at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health in BostonOur study leveraged repeated measures of selfreported physical activity over decades to examine the association between longterm physical activity during middle and late adulthood and mortality Researchers analysed mortality data and medical records for more than 100000 adults gathered from two large prospective studies the allfemale Nurses Health Study and the allmale Health Professionals Followup Study from 19882018Participants whose data were examined were 63 per cent female and more than 96 per cent were white adults They had an average age of 66 years and an average body mass index BMI of 26 kgm2 over the 30year followup periodParticipants selfreported their leisuretime physical activity by completing a validated questionnaire for either the Nurses Health Study or Health Professionals FollowUp Study every two yearsThe publicly available questionnaires which were updated and expanded every two years included questions about health information physiciandiagnosed illnesses family medical histories and personal habits such as cigarette and alcohol consumption and frequency of exercise Exercise data was reported as the average time spent per week on various physical activities over the past year Moderate activity was defined as walking lowerintensity exercise weightlifting and calisthenicsVigorous activity included jogging running swimming bicycling and other aerobic exercises The analysis found that adults who performed double the currently recommended range of either moderate or vigorous physical activity each week had the lowest longterm risk of mortalityThe analysis also found Participants who met the guidelines for vigorous physical activity had an observed 31 per cent lower risk of CVD mortality and 15 per cent lower risk of nonCVD mortality for an overall 19 per cent lower risk of death from all causes Participants who met the guidelines for moderate physical activity had an observed 2225 per cent lower risk of CVD mortality and 1920 per cent lower risk of nonCVD mortality for an overall 2021 per cent lower risk of death from all causes Participants who performed two to four times above the recommended amount of longterm vigorous physical activity 150300 minweek had an observed 2733 per cent lower risk of CVD mortality and 19 per cent nonCVD mortality for an overall 2123 per cent lower risk of death from all causes Participants who performed two to four times above the recommended amount of moderate physical activity 300600 minweek had an observed 2838 per cent lower risk of CVD mortality and 2527 per cent nonCVD mortality for an overall 2631 per cent lower risk of mortality from all causes In addition no harmful cardiovascular health effects were found among the adults who reported engaging in more than four times the recommended minimum activity levels Previous studies have found evidence that longterm highintensity endurance exercise such as marathons triathlons and longdistance bicycle races may increase the risk of adverse cardiovascular events including myocardial fibrosis coronary artery calcification atrial fibrillation and sudden cardiac deathThis finding may reduce the concerns around the potential harmful effect of engaging in high levels of physical activity observed in several previous studies Lee noted However engaging in longterm high intensity physical activity 300 minutesweek or moderate intensity physical activity 600 minutesweek at levels more than four times the recommended weekly minimum did not provide any additional reduction in risk of deathOur study provides evidence to guide individuals to choose the right amount and intensity of physical activity over their lifetime to maintain their overall health Lee said Our findings support the current national physical activity guidelines and further suggest that the maximum benefits may be achieved by performing medium to high levels of either moderate or vigorous activity or a combinationHe also noted that people who perform less than 75 minutes of vigorous activity or less than 150 minutes of moderate activity per week may have greater benefits on mortality reduction by consistently performing approximately 75150 minutes of vigorous activity or 150300 minutes of moderate exercise per week or an equivalent combination of both over the long termWe have known for a long time that moderate and intense levels of physical exercise can reduce a persons risk of both atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and mortality said Donna K Arnett MSPH PhD BSN a past president of the American Heart Association 20122013 and the dean and a professor in the department of epidemiology at the University of Kentucky College of Public Health in Lexington Kentucky Arnett served as cochair of the writing committee for the American Heart Associations 2019 Guideline on the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease however she was not involved in the study We have also seen that getting more than 300 minutes of moderateintensity aerobic physical activity or more than 150 minutes of vigorousintensity aerobic physical exercise each week may reduce a persons risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease even further so it makes sense that getting those extra minutes of exercise may also decrease mortalityAlso Read Coronavirus and blood clots Causes effects and treatmentThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever