Doing exercises that increase your heart and breathing rate on a regular basis may reduce your risk of an early death across all causes by up to 40%, according to a new meta-analysis of 85 studies that looked at 7 million people worldwide.
“Physical activity may be even more important for long-term health than we previously thought,” study coauthor Gregore Mielke, a senior lecturer at the School of Public Health at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, said in an email.
Age didn’t seem to matter — people who started exercising at older ages could also increase their longevity, said Ruyi Yu, a public health doctoral student at the University of Brisbane. In fact, the positive impact of increasing physical activity was often stronger in older adults, providing up to a “10% to 15% further reduction in risk” because they are more likely to be facing multiple health problems, she said.
“This highlights that it is never too late to start being physically active, and starting at any point in adulthood can still lead to a longer, healthier life,” Mielke said.
The findings are not surprising because physical activity is “magic,” said Dr. Andrew Freeman, director of cardiovascular prevention and wellness at National Jewish Health in Denver, who was not involved in the study.
“Exercise truly does lower risk in a way you can’t get with medications. It’s amazing,” Freeman said. “I tell my patients that physical activity is truly the elixir of youth.”
The study, published Thursday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, is the “most comprehensive analyses ever conducted” on physical activity from early adulthood onward, Mielke said.
“What makes this study different is that it reviewed research that tracked physical activity at multiple points over time,” he said. “This allowed us to examine long-term patterns — such as staying active, becoming active later, or stopping activity — and how these patterns affect the risk of death.”
While exercise guidelines may differ by country, the meta-analysis applied the World Health Organization’s recommendations: at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity (or a combination) throughout the week. Vigorous-intensity exercise such as jogging or race walking really amps up your heart rate — you’re likely to start to sweat after only a few minutes, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Regular aerobic exercise was most beneficial for heart disease, which is the No. 1 killer in the world. Compared with people who did little to no physical activity, those who exercised the most were about 40% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease, the study found. The risk of cancer dropped by 25%.
The largest gains in lifespan occurred when people exercised moderately at least 300 minutes a week, Yu said: “Doing more than that didn’t seem to provide much extra benefit for longevity.”
However, even couch potatoes who began to exercise consistently saw a benefit — a 22% drop in the risk of early death, the study found.
People who engaged in more leisure-time physical activity saw a 27% drop in risk as well, the study found.
Unfortunately, people who stopped exercising appeared to lose longevity momentum — they had a risk of early death similar to those who have always been inactive.
“This result is interesting as this raises an important question: do the benefits of past physical activity last if people stop being active?” Yu said. “More research is definitely needed for this.”
While meeting official exercise guidelines is ideal, it’s not the only path to better health, Mielke said.
“Even people who didn’t meet the recommended levels — but maintained some level of activity — still had a lower risk of early death compared to those who remained inactive,” he said. “We encourage people to move in whatever way works for them. What matters most is keeping your body moving and finding ways to enjoy being active.”
It’s important to start slowly if you’re new to exercise — and only after checking with your doctor first — but the goal is to build up to a brisk walk for at least 30 minutes a day, Freeman said.
“If you go with a friend or your spouse or partner, whoever it is, they should be able to talk to you and you should be unable to talk back because you’re working so hard,” Freeman said. “It’s good for your relationship and for your body.”
You can also add some resistance to take your workout to the next level, he said.
“When I tell people to go walking or biking or swimming or jogging, I usually recommend that they do resistance concurrently,” Freeman said.
“Carry some weights with them or put on a weighted backpack, put resistance on the bike or bike uphill, and put fins on their hands when they swim so that there’s resistance in the water. Do whatever they need to try to combine the cardio with strength training.”
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