The affects of excercise on human longevity

Exercise – importance and benefits

More and more people today are taking up more active lifestyles in the form of exercise. But do we know the importance of exercise, its benefits or how much we require to improve and maintain our overall health? In this article, we will discuss all these including useful tips for getting regular exercise.

Types of Exercise

Exercise may be:

• Aerobic exercises or
• Strength training or muscle strengthening exercises 

Aerobic exercise is any form of activity that improves how the body uses oxygen.¹ Aerobic exercises include walking, running and cycling. Aerobic exercises improve the circulation and blood flow in the muscles and increases the red blood cell level to enhance oxygen transportation.¹ These exercises help lower our blood pressure and reduce the risk of diabetes, stroke, and cardiovascular disease.¹

Strength exercises are activities that work our muscles and help to increase their strength, size, power and endurance. They include activities that use your body weight or involve you working against a resistance. Some examples include weight lifting, working with resistance bands, digging or shoveling when gardening, hill climbing, dancing, push-ups, squats and sit-ups.² Muscle strengthening exercises help us maintain our ability to carry out daily tasks and slows down the rate of bone and muscle loss that comes with increasing age.²

In order for any type of physical activity to be beneficial to your health, it needs to be intense enough to increase your heart rate and breathing and make you feel warmer. This level of activity is known as moderate-intensity activity. To know if you are doing moderate-intensity activity, you should be able to talk while exercising, but you won’t be able to sing the words of a song.² A more intense level of exercise is known as vigorous-intensity activity. This kind of activity provides more health benefits than moderate-intensity activity. When you are exercising vigorously, your breathing is hard and fast and your heart rate increases significantly. You also will not be able to speak without pausing for breath.²

Benefits of exercise

Exercise is free and easy to take with proven scientific evidence of its benefits to our health and general wellbeing.² Sedentary behavior, prolonged inactivity or inadequate exercise is known as a ‘silent killer’.²

Cardiovascular health and disease prevention 

People who exercise regularly have a reduced risk of developing chronic conditions like heart disease, Type II diabetes, stroke and cancer.² This is because exercise increases the high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, known as the ‘good’ cholesterol, in our bodies. It also helps to reduce the unhealthy triglycerides. This action allows the blood to flow easily in the body, reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.³ Other conditions like osteoarthritis, bowel cancer, breast cancer, metabolic syndrome and hip fracture are significantly reduced when we exercise regularly.^2,3

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Weight management

One of the more obvious benefits of exercise and increased physical activity is weight management.³ However, exercise actually has relatively moderate effects on weight loss. As we increase our level of physical activity and exercise, we expend more energy, which naturally leads to an increase in appetite. Thus, exercise makes us eat more, which, unfortunately makes us gain weight. Exercise is most beneficial in the management and maintenance of weight and in preventing weight gain.³ In order to reap the weight loss benefits of exercise, it is important to combine it with a balanced diet, adequate hydration and increased fiber intake. 

Life expectancy and longevity

Studies show that a leading risk factor of premature death is lack of physical activity. We can increase our life expectancy and longevity by up to seven years with regular physical activity.⁴ It is also estimated that aerobic exercise can reduce the risk of premature death by about 32%, while those who regularly lift weight have a 14% lower risk of death.⁵

Mental health

Regular exercise contributes to an improved sense of wellbeing, self-esteem and overall mood. When we are physically active, we are less likely to experience depression and anxiety symptoms.⁶ Exercise also increases energy levels and decreases stress. Physical activity also enhances thinking, learning and judgment skills.⁶ We can also improve our sleep quality and energy levels as well as reduce our risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease when we exercise regularly.²

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Current Recommendation and Guidelines

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that adults aged 18 to 64 years should do at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity or at least 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous –intensity activity or a combination of moderate and vigorous-intensity activity throughout the week.⁶ It is also recommended that adults do muscle-strengthening activities that involve all major muscle groups on two or more days of the week for additional health benefits.⁶ Moderate –intensity aerobic physical activity can be increased to more than 300 minutes a week or more than 150 minutes for vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity.⁶ In general, people are advised to reduce the amount of time they spend being sedentary and to instead, replace sedentary time with physical activity of any intensity. The recommended levels of physical activity are only a guide, as we are all expected to aim to do more.⁶

Tips for Regular Exercise

One of the easiest ways to exercise regularly is by walking. Making walking a habit by including it in your daily routine is helpful way to exercise regularly.² Some other useful tips for participating in regular exercise include:

• Walk or ride a bicycle to work instead of driving a car 
• Walking to the shops or when taking the children to school
• Using the stairs instead of the elevator
• Pick up a sport 
• Join a community running or walking group
• Engage in active past times with family and friends

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References

1. Felman A. (2019). What to know about exercise and how to start. Medical News Today. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153390

2. NHS (2021). Benefits of exercise. Live Well. https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/exercise-health-benefits/

3. Mayo Clinic (2021). Exercise: 7 benefits of regular physical activity. Fitness. Healthy Lifestyle. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/exercise/art-20048389

4. Reimers C., Knapp G. and Reimers A. (2012). Does physical activity increase life expectancy? A review of the literature. J Aging Res. 2012; 2012: 243958. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3395188/

5. Gorzelitz J. et al. (2022). Independent and joint associations of weightlifting and aerobic activity with all-cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality in the prostate, lung, colorectal and ovarian cancer screening trial. British Journal of Sports Medicine 2022;56:1277-1283. https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/56/22/1277

6. WHO (2022). Physical activity. Key facts. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity

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