Do Longer Workouts Boost Longevity?
Exercise and longevity go hand-in-hand. Sweating daily can help you dodge severe illness, reduce your risk of a life-threatening cardiac event, and keep your brain healthy as you age. But when you’re working toward increasing the amount of time you spend in motion each day, doctors and trainers say that slow, incremental progress is the best way to measure success.
The United States Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion recommends that adults clock at least 150 to 300 minutes per week of moderate exercise, 75 to 150 minutes each week of vigorous movement, or “an equivalent combination of both intensities.” However, the results of a recent study published in the journal Circulation suggested that boosting the time you spend biking, lifting weights, and running may promote longevity.
The study found that those who exercised two to four times above the moderate physical activity recommendations (about 300 to 599 minutes each week) reaped the most rewards from their exercise regimen. These participants also had 26% to 31% lower all-cause mortality, 28% to 38% lower cardiovascular mortality, and 25% to 27% lower non-cardiovascular mortality.
Excerpted from Fortune Well
