A new study has revealed that exercising two to four times a week can reduce the risk of death among adults.
Researchers looked at more than 100,000 participants over 30 years and found that those who exercised for 150 to 600 minutes had a 21% to 31% lower mortality rate.
“The potential impact of physical activity on health is great, but it remains unclear whether engaging in high levels of prolonged, vigorous, or moderate-intensity physical activity above recommended levels provides additional benefits or deleterious effects on cardiovascular health.” says Dong Hoon. Lee, ScD, MS, a research associate in the department of nutrition at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health in Boston, in a news release.
“Our study leveraged repeated measures of self-reported physical activity over decades to examine the association between long-term physical activity during middle and late adulthood and mortality.”
In addition, the study challenged the belief that “too much physical activity” can be detrimental to health and found no harmful effects on cardiovascular health among those who engaged in more than the minimum recommended levels of activity.
The participants self-reported their level of physical activity through a survey every two years. The questions included information about their family medical history, health information, illnesses, and personal habits such as alcohol consumption.
“Our study provides evidence to guide people to choose the right amount and intensity of physical activity throughout their lives to maintain their overall health,” Lee said.
“Our findings support current national physical activity guidelines and further suggest that maximum benefits can be achieved by engaging in medium to high levels of moderate or vigorous activity or a combination.”
The study is published in the journal Circulation.
