The optimal combination of exercise that could reduce your risk of early death by 50% has been revealed following a large-scale study.
After analysing the medical records of more than 500,000 people, researchers concluded that the best combination for increasing life expectancy was 75 minutes of moderate exercise and two and a half hours of vigorous exercise each week, alongside two sessions of weight training.
Moderate exercise includes activity such as brisk walking, while vigorous exercise could include running or swimming.
- Study sheds light on ways to calculate life expectancy
- Red wine: moderate consumption can boost sex life
The World Health Organization’s current recommendations are two and a half hours of moderate exercise and at least one hour and 15 minutes of vigorous exercise a week, along with weight training at least twice a week.
The latest research by a team from Spain, Australia, Canada and Denmark suggests that actually more vigorous exercise is required and less moderate exercise.
The team analysed data from the US National Health Interview Survey, conducted from 1997 to 2018, when respondents gave details of how much exercise they did. The average age of the participants was 46 and they were mostly white and female.
The researchers then tracked causes of death and were examined alongside how much exercise participants did and the type of exercise.
They concluded that for all causes of death, “the highest statistically significant risk reduction was observed for the exposure category corresponding to more than zero to 75 minutes of moderate aerobic physical activity combined with more than 150 minutes of vigorous aerobic physical activity and two or more muscle-strengthening activity sessions per week.”
- Study finds getting 8,200 steps a day reduces risk of high blood pressure, sleep apnoea and depression
- Just 4 minutes of vigorous exercise can lower cancer risk
Between two and a half and three hours and 45 minutes of moderate exercise, up to one hour and 15 minutes of vigorous exercise and at least two sessions of muscle strengthening each week was found to cut the risk of dying from heart disease and stroke by 70%.
In terms of the biggest reduction in dying from cancer (56%), the optimum combination was found to be more than five hours of moderate exercise, one hour and 15 minutes of vigorous exercise and at least two sessions of muscle strengthening a week.
The study was published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
