History at a glance
- Exceeding the recommended weekly levels of exercise could reduce the risks of all-cause mortality in adults, according to new research.
- However, after a certain threshold of exercise time, no additional benefits were observed.
- The findings reinforce the importance of regular exercise.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommends that US adults get 150-300 minutes of moderate physical activity each week or 75-150 minutes per week of vigorous physical activity.
While a 2018 study found that about 80 percent of U.S. adults and teens aren’t active enough, those who exceed HHS thresholds are more likely to live longer, according to new research published in the American Heart Association (AHA) journal Circulation.
The study also found no adverse effects on cardiovascular health among people completing four times the minimum recommended levels of physical activity. However, exceeding this threshold also did not lead to an additional reduction in the risks of death.
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In an effort to better understand whether exercising above recommended amounts led to benefits or harms to people’s cardiovascular health, researchers evaluated the physical activity and medical records of more than 100,000 people over 30 years .
While those who achieved the recommended levels of moderate and vigorous activity had a 20-21 and 19% lower risk of all-cause mortality, respectively, participants who completed two to four times that amount had show even greater risk reductions.
Those in the latter group who completed more vigorous activity than recommended had a 21 to 23 percent lower risk of death, while those who completed more moderate activity saw a 26 to 31 percent lower.
Data were drawn from the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study from 1988 to 2018. The majority of participants evaluated were white women, while the mean age of participants was 66 years old.
Physical activity measures were self-reported. Exercises such as walking, weight lifting, and calisthenics were classified as moderate activity; running, jogging, swimming and cycling were considered vigorous activities.
Overall, physical activity at or above recommended levels was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease-related death and all-cause death.
“We’ve known for a long time that moderate and vigorous levels of physical exercise can reduce a person’s risk of both atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and mortality,” said AHA Past President Donna K. Arnett, who did not participate in the study, in a press release. release
“We also found that doing more than 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity or more than 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical exercise each week can further reduce a person’s risk of cardiovascular disease atherosclerosis, so it makes sense to do it. Those extra minutes of exercise can also decrease mortality,” Arnett added.
Posted on July 25, 2022