Fitness

It’s Never Too Late to Increase Lifespan With Exercise

New research has found that the phrase, “better late than never” applies to exercise and extending your life. The new study set out to identify how changes in exercise—even later in life—can decrease your risk of dying from specific conditions or from any cause. 

The benefits of exercise

Although there is plenty of research linking exercise to a lower risk of death due to things like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, a research team from the University of Cambridge wanted to examine how longevity was affected by exercise levels that fluctuate over time.

They gathered information from more than 14,599 people between the ages of 40 and 79. Over multiple years, the researchers looked at lifestyle and a multitude of risk factors. These included things like smoking, diet and alcohol. They also factored for social class, employment, type of employment and education. The participants’ weight, age, height and blood pressure were calculated. Finally, each participant’s medical history was factored in.

Then, researchers set out to determine how much exercise the men and women were getting at work, home and in their free time. To ensure that participants’ responses to questions related to exercise were as accurate as possible, the team also monitored the participants’ heart rates and movement.

Assessing mortality rate

After the final assessment was complete, the participants were tracked for an additional 12.5 years to assess the death rate. During those 12.5 years, 3,148 participants died.

The team found that increased exercise over time and greater levels of exercise correlated with a lower death risk. Best of all, the scientists showed that exercising—even after being physically inactive for a long time—still significantly helped longevity.

“In addition to shifting the population towards meeting the minimum physical activity recommendations, public health efforts should also focus on the maintenance of physical activity levels, specifically preventing declines over mid to late life,” says lead research Alexander Mok. 

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