Can exercise help you live longer? Well, in the past, it was assumed that exercise would improve life expectancy, but there wasn't a lot of good evidence for it. When it came to health and exercise, mostly, I'd hear people say “even if exercise doesn't help you live longer, you'd still have a better quality of life.” The debate of exercise and lifespan may been put to rest because of an interesting study that was published in 2011. This study seemed to show that not only could exercise extend the the human lifespan but – even better than that – a lot less exercise was needed than what you might think.
Exercise and life span study
This study was published in the August 16th 2011 issue of The Lancetand was titled ” Minimum amount of physical activity for reduced mortality and extended life expectancy: a prospective cohort study.”
This study consisted of 416,176 individuals from Taiwan (216,910 women and 199,265 men) who took part in medical screenings between 1996 and 2008. The people in the study completed questionnaires to determine how much time they spent doing physical activity per week. All participants saw their doctor at least yearly. This allowed the doctors to keep tabs on what the people were doing, diseases they developed etc.
On the basis of these questionnaires, the researchers put people in the following 5 categories:
- Inactive (not doing any exercise)
- Low activity (walking)
- Medium activity (brisk walking)
- High activity (jogging)
- Very high activity (running)
Over the years of the study, the researchers noted that – when compared to the inactive group – those who only walked 15 minutes a day 6 days per week, had a 14% reduction in the risk of death from all causes and had a 3 year longer life expectancy.
The researchers also found that each additional 15 minute of daily activity, (beyond the minimum of 15 minutes) further reduced all cause mortality by 4% as well as all cancer mortality by 1%.
These benefits of exercise were seen in both men and women and in all age groups AND even in those who had risk factors for heart disease.
On the flip side, those who were inactive had a 17% higher risk of mortality compared with those who only walked.
Do I just need 15 minutes of exercise per day?
While some may scoff at 15 minutes of exercise a day giving such fantastic health effects, researchers note that their hope with this study was to educate people about positive effects of more exercise and leisure time physical activity.
The authors admit that their study was not perfect. For example, since this was an observational investigation the results cannot completely be attributed to exercise. For example, maybe the people who walked, also ate healthier than those who did not exercise. Still, if this study is corroborated, its results are nothing less than amazing.
As a exercise physiologist , I know a lot of people feel that the recommendation of 30-60 minutes of exercise a day is too daunting to attain. This study I gives hope to those people who have talked themselves into a leaned helplessness when it comes to exercise. In other words, even a little bit of exercise – 15 minutes of walking – is better than nothing and the benefits may be far greater than most think.
In this study, I noticed that the researchers emphasized leisure time activities and not “exercise”. I liked that a lot. The word “exercise” sounds difficult to some people while “leisure time activities” is more easier to digest.
I think we need to alter the words we use when we communicate physical activity to people who are not used to exercise. I think if we can alter the words we use, we might do better at getting people to be more active.
What kind of exercise helps?
While this study looked at exercise ranging from walking to jogging to running, what really matters is doing what people enjoy. Walking is the easiest for most people but if they can’t walk, riding a stationary bike will be just as good.
Exercise in a pool is another example for people as well. Pool exercise is great for people with arthritis because it takes the stress off of joints.
If you belong to a gym – or are thinking about it – ask if the gym has an Upper Body Ergometer (UBE). This device – which reminds me of an upside down bicycle – lets people to exercise their upper body while seated. These devices are portable and can even fit in the home for those who dont want to go to a gym.
I think when it comes to exercise most people need to know that they dont have to run a marathon to reap the benefits of exercise. Just doing something – anything – is better than doing nothing at all.
What do you think?
I have always done long distance running and have always felt that it has given me a good level of fitness however as I am getting older and near 50 I feel I need a better balance between cardio and strength training
I do a lot of exercise. In fact I fall into the very high activity category, I would say. However, sometimes I wonder if there is a limit where you can do too much..
Sometimes I feel absolutely knackered, and want to skip a day. I have heard different views on over training but I’m split on the view of it granting you a longer lease on life.
Mikea,
taking a day off here and there will not hurt you. the fact that you say you want to skip a day sometimes might mean you are -at the least -psychologically tired. You wont lose any fitness if you take a day off. Regardless of whether exercise helps you live longer, the big thing is being alive and enjoying it. there is more to life than exercise.
Very interesting article. I definitely fall into the “Inactive (not doing any exercise)” category, so I think it’s about time to start doing push-ups and sit-ups again.
However, I read another article which stated that exercise can actually lead to more problems for about 10% of people. Do you have anything to say about that? Although I think they might have been talking about rigorous exercise.
Nick, the benefits of exercise do outweigh the risks for most people but, as exercise intensity increases, the risk also increases. One particular risk that I think you should know about is exercise induced rhabdomyolysis. See my review on it and also take particular note of all the comments – and its relationship to personal trainers.
I agree with you, any kind of exercise will help you achieve more longevity. I believe that there are some studies that even defend the idea that over training actually decreases the life span of a person. Exaggerating is never good, especially in physical activities.
Hello Joe,
I quite agree with your article.
Recent finding here also found that just a medium sized walk 3 or 4 times a week is really beneficial to early alzheimers sufferers. So a good walk helps your mind as well as your body.
Keith
great post! This will sure help to convince my fitness clients that they need to workout more with me. lol
Thanks I’m glad you found me! Nice website you have by the way 🙂
You might like my other website also – SupplementClarity.com
How is it that each and every day we’re presented with more and more, undeniable information about how exercise can extend and improve your quality of life, yet the obesity rate continues to grow as if eating and NOT exercising was the best way to go about it. It makes no sense how many people are blinding ignoring these benefits.
Darcy, I understand. I think its because humans tend to take the path of least resistance. The path the is least in this instance is to do nothing or to think as if they are defeated and cant do anything. My hope is that some of these words get through to a few. Where there is life, there is hope and a chance for a new day.
Wow. The research has proven that exercises not only keep you fit but increases chances of a long life. I think it would make people more consious about their lifestyle.
A lot of time, the use of words make a task easier for everyone. Just like you changed the word “exercise” to “leisure time activities”. To be honest, I myself afraid of the word exercise. Leisure time activities sounds much more easier to me.
Personally, I am a person who have asthma and I am not able to run for 15 minutes together. What can be the suggestion for me?
Mallik, you do not have to run. the beauty of this study is that it showed that even walking for just 15 minutes a day gave people fantastic results.
Hi Joe,
I’ll just get the quick ‘love the site’ out of the way first. I’ve read a few of your posts now and I’m a real fan of your articulate and to-the-point writing style.
I’ve always been amazed at just how many people look to do as little as physically possible, literally, in terms of exercising and taking care of their health and wellbeing. I’m not sure how anyone can really think that 15 minutes exercise is enough to make any real difference in their day-to-day lives. Every exercise method is all about being ‘quick,’ ‘easy,’ ‘simple’ and so on.
Let me know if I’m in the minority here, Joe, but when I read considered posts and sites like yours, I scratch my head and can’t really begin to understand why people aren’t activly working harder on maintaining their health – especially when we have so, so much information in the modern era pertaining to the importance of having a sustained exercise routine in your life.
Keep writing like a champ, Joe. I’m loving what I’ve read so far!
BJ
BJ thanks Im glad you found my site. I think the take home message with this study is that we get big returns on a little bit of activity. Im all for doing more but I think people often think they have to workout like crazy to see the benefits of exercise. This study seems to show thats not true. If this gets people to exercise more down the road, then I think thats another good step in the right direction.
Good article I have read that the bare exercise you should be doing is 20 minutes a day 3 times a week which is not a lot if it is going to keep you on this earth longer. I advice people to try and do some form of exercise at least 5 times eg going for a walk in the park. It does not have to be anything heavy.
Conssider also the recent longitudinal study [http://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a439] where they measured some guys’ strength and cardiovascular fitness, then split them into three groups, the weakest, middle and strongest, and unfit, ordinary and fit ones.
Considering just strength, what they found was that having middling strength reduced your chances of cancer, but alone had no effect on heart disease (which was protected against by cardiovascular fitness). But having good strength didn’t reduce your chances further.
We’re talking about their study of several thousand middle-classed Westerners. To be in the middle third of them in terms of strength is not a big ask. I’m fairly sure you could achieve it in fifteen minutes a day of squats, pushups and chinups or the like with kettlebells, etc.
15 minutes’ cardio and 15 minutes’ strength daily to greatly reduce your chances of dropping off early. Not a big deal, especially if it’s just part of your ordinary day, eg walking 1km to the train station to go to work, and at work be the guy who steps up to move heavy desks, photocopiers, etc.
Kyle, very good points! I like your website by the way. Keep up the great blogging!!
I think 15 – 30 minutes of exercises are enough for a day, however for better results we can improve the quality of the exercises like extending the number of reps or reduce of time rest etc. Exercises in15 minutes every day is better than 2 hours of exercises just in 1 week.