Living a healthy life involves eating fresh, nutrient dense foods, getting enough sleep, and of course, getting enough exercise. However, the question that has long been debated is just exactly how much exercise should you be getting to live a long, healthy life?
Thanks to two new large-scale studies, which were published in JAMA Internal Medicine, we now have an answer.
The first study looked at data collected by six ongoing health surveys that asked people to report the amount of exercise they do per week. After studying the data, the researchers, some of whom were from the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, Harvard, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, were able to categorize the activity levels of more than 661,000 people into four categories. The first was people who reported not exercising at all, the second was for those who exercised but did not reach the recommended 150 minutes of moderate cardio per week, the third category included those who exercised two to three times that recommended amount, and finally the fourth category was for those who exercised three to five or more times the weekly recommendation.
The researchers then compared that information to 14 years worth of death records for the group, and found that those who did not exercise at all were at the highest risk of dying prematurely. The second group, or those who exercised less than 21 minutes per day, surprisingly had a 20 percent lower risk of death compared to those who didn’t work out at all, which proves that any little bit of exercise helps. People who exercised one to two times the recommendation, or approximately 300 minutes per week, were 31 percent less likely to die early, and those in the last category, who exercised three to five times the minimum recommendation (just 64 minutes a day), had a 39 percent lower risk of early death compared to those who didn’t exercise at all.
The second study, which examined the exercise intensity levels of more than 200,000 Australian adults from survey data, and came to very similar conclusions. The study found that those who consider at least 30 percent of their work outs to be vigorous had a nine percent lower risk of death than those who exercised at more moderate intensity levels. If more than 30 percent of exercise was vigorous, the study found that the lowered mortality risk jumped from nine to 13 percent.
The bottom line is that any amount of exercise- even moderate exercise like walking- each day will help you lead a healthier, and longer life.
Does this new information make you want to work out more? Share with us in the comments.
[Featured image credit: livingwellnaturalhealth.com]