A long and healthy life is determined by many factors. Some of them are beyond our control (e.g. inherited genes), others we can modify.

But will exercising extend the life of each of us? Does the more or more intense the exercise we do, the longer we live?

A new study by researchers at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland has found that although exercise can contribute to prolonging life, it is only when combined with other healthy habits that it has a significant impact on life expectancy and quality of life.

Sport and long life, photo: panthermedia

For the study, the research team used data on more than 11,000 pairs of adult twins who completed questionnaires in 1975, 1981 and 1990. They monitored their mortality until 2020, a period of 45 years.

The participants were divided into four groups:

those with a sedentary lifestyle,
moderately active,
active,
very active.

The researchers found that almost 40% of participants in thesedentary lifestyle group had died by 2020; this was therefore the group with the highest mortality rate of all four. Participants in the active groups had a 15% to 23% lower risk of death than those in the sedentary lifestyle group.

How do lifestyle factors affect the risk of death?

In a further step to determine how lifestyle affects the risk of death, the researchers considered factors such as:

body mass index (BMI),
health status,
alcohol consumption and smoking.

After applying these factors, the mortality risk of participants in the sedentary lifestyle group fell to a maximum of 7%.

What influences long life, photo: panthermedia

Interestingly, the researchers found that participants in the extreme groups, i.e. those with a sedentary lifestyle and those who were highly active, experienced accelerated biological ageing, which was not the case for participants in the other groups.

According to the researchers, combining exercise with other factors of an overall healthy lifestyle therefore contributes to prolonging life.

Exercise also does not offset the effects of other unhealthy behaviours, such as smoking, eating an unhealthy diet or ignoring high blood pressure.

What steps can be taken to improve health?

The researchers observed that you only need to follow five factors to significantly improve your health; these include:

avoiding obesity,
maintaining normal blood pressure,
quitting smoking,
controlling diabetes,
treating high cholesterol.

It is therefore impossible to answer the question of how to exercise to live longer if exercise alone is not enough, however, based on the research above, it is easy to make the claim that any exercise is better than no exercise; a sedentary lifestyle does not prolong life.

Physical activity and health, photo: panthermedia

Physical activity does not have to be very intense - just average is enough to bring health benefits. One recent study showed that once you exceed 7,000-8,000 steps per day, the health benefits of this behaviour no longer increase. So if you take 20,000 steps a day, it won't give you any more health benefits than 8,000 steps.

way4cure.com

How to exercise to live longer?

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