According to a study, more exercise may lead to longer lifespans and reduced death rates

Increased physical activity may be related to living longer.

A recent 12-page study indicated that persons who exercised more often had a lower death rate than those who did not, according to the Circulation Journal of the American Heart Association.

A total of 116,221 adults were tracked over a 30-year span from 1988 to 2018 and provided workout reports outlining their “leisure-time physical activity.”

Participants in the study who engaged in 150–300 minutes per week of strenuous exercise and 300–600 minutes per week of moderate exercise showed a reduction in mortality.

A lower mortality risk of between 21 and 23 percent was observed among vigorous exercisers who engaged in activities such as jogging, running, climbing stairs, swimming, biking, aerobics, playing sports, and working outdoors for 150 to 299 minutes.

Additionally, this exercise group had cardiovascular deaths between 27 and 33 % lower and non-cardiovascular deaths 19 % lower. The study found that people who engaged in strenuous exercise for more than 300 minutes a week “did not have further lower mortality.”

On the other hand, moderate exercisers who engaged in activities like walking, weightlifting with lower-intensity exercises, and callisthenics for 150 to 299 minutes had a lower mortality risk between 20 and 21% for all causes of death.

Moderate exercisers had a 22 to 25% lower likelihood of dying from cardiovascular causes, and a 19 to 20% lower chance of dying from causes other than cardiovascular causes.

According to the study, people who exercised moderately for 300 to 599 minutes a week had “% to 13% further lower mortality.”

47,596 deaths were recorded over the study’s monitoring period, according to the researchers.

The researchers concluded that engaging in 150 to 300 mins per week of long-term leisure-time vigorous physical activity, 300 to 600 mins per week of long-term leisure-time moderate physical activity, or an equivalent combination of both, resulted in the nearly maximum association with lower mortality.

The Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study recruited people for the study, which may have tainted the findings.

The majority of study participants were in their 60s, had a normal BMI, rarely consumed more than 2,000 calories per day, occasionally drank alcohol, and smoked scarcely at all.

With more than 90% of the study participants being White, there was a dearth of ethnic diversity as well.

The U.S. Department of Health advises engaging in 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity and 75 to 150 minutes of strenuous activity each week.

The agency claims that mixing strenuous and moderate exercises throughout the week can also have a positive impact on health.