A recent study has shown that those who exercised regularly during their leisure time could have extended their life expectancy by as much as 5 years.
Almost 650,000 people took part in American and European cohort studies to determine whether exercise depended upon obesity levels or activity levels and how many years could be gained from these differences.
The World Health Organization (WHO) currently recommends that adults do
at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical
activity every week. This would mean something that gets the individual breathing heavily or feels as if they are working hard. A variety of people were studied with various BMI scores, also available for this study were those who had been smokers. All participants were over the age of 40.
The general findings were that those who did or exceeded the WHO recommended amount had extended 3.4 - 4.5 years of life expectancy (compared to those who did no exercise). The interesting thing was that those who only did half the amount, still exceeded the expectancy to about 1.8 years. The physical activity and life expectancy association was also evident at all BMI levels.
The study therefore suggested that physical activity at recommended levels
or higher may increase longevity further, and that a lack of leisure
time physical activity may markedly reduce life expectancy when combined
with obesity.
The whole study was published on 6 November 2012 by PLOS medicine and can be found here. It is quite an in depth study so we will only highlight the bullet points, please read it for a full understanding.
Stay Healthy!
Stay Healthy!
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