Regularly engaging in a diverse mix of physical activities, including walking, running, and cycling, could significantly prolong one’s life, new research indicates. Crucially, this link to a lower risk of premature death was found to be independent of an individual’s total physical activity levels.
Published in BMJ Medicine, the study revealed that those who habitually took part in the broadest range of exercises experienced a 19 per cent lower risk of death from all causes. The risk of mortality from heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease, and other causes was also reduced by between 13 and 41 per cent.
The comprehensive analysis drew on data from two extensive studies, tracking over 111,000 people for more than three decades. Participants regularly reported their lifestyle and engagement in various exercises, including walking, cycling, swimming, and tennis, alongside daily stair climbing, from 1986. Lower intensity activities like yoga were also tracked.
The findings underscore that while any physical activity contributes to lower death rates, diversifying one’s exercise routine offers distinct advantages for longevity, irrespective of overall activity levels.
Researchers said the finding supports the idea that “promoting engagement in a diverse range of physical activity types, alongside increasing total physical activity levels, may help reduce the risk of premature death”.
Elsewhere, the study found that walking was associated with a 17% lower risk of death when comparing people who did the most walking with those who did the least. Climbing the stairs was linked to a 10% lower risk.
Researchers gave each person a score for each physical activity which measured how much energy was burned during exercise rather than at rest.
However, the lowered death risk levelled off after these scores reached a certain point.
“Beyond these thresholds, the associations were no longer significant,” researchers said.
This suggests the presence of a “potential threshold for the beneficial effects of physical activity”, they added.
The analysis also found that people who did more exercise were less likely to take health risks such as smoking.
They were also more likely to weigh less, eat more healthily, and be more social.