The 'Amazing Changes' That Appeared After Exercising 2.5 Hours a Week

22% Drop in All-Cause Mortality Risk
Exercise's Death Prevention Effect Greater in Elderly

A study has found that engaging in moderate-intensity physical activity (PA) such as brisk walking or cycling for more than 150 minutes per week can reduce the risk of all-cause mortality by an average of 22%.

Walking exercise. This photo is not directly related to the content of the article.

On the 22nd, a research team led by Professor David Martinez-Gomez from the Medical School of Universidad Aut?noma de Madrid in Spain announced in the American Medical Association journal 'JAMA Network Open' that they tracked the exercise levels and mortality risk of over 2 million adults from the United States, United Kingdom, China, and Taiwan for 11 years, arriving at these results.

The researchers explained that although physical activity tends to decrease with aging, the absolute risk of death increases and causes of death vary by age, the physical activity guidelines are applied uniformly. The physical activity guidelines recommend 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week. Moderate-intensity physical activities are exercises that cause sweating or shortness of breath but still allow conversation with a companion, including ▲brisk walking ▲cycling ▲hiking ▲table tennis ▲badminton, among others.

The research team used health survey databases from ▲the United States ▲the United Kingdom ▲China ▲Taiwan to track the association between meeting physical activity guidelines and mortality risk by age group over an average of 11.5 years among 2,011,186 individuals aged 20 to 97. During this period, there were 177,436 deaths.

Analysis showed that the group engaging in physical activity above the recommended weekly amount had a 22% lower risk of death compared to the group that did not exercise. The mortality prevention effect was greater with higher exercise amounts and among older adults. Specifically, the group exercising the recommended weekly amount had a 14% lower mortality risk compared to those not meeting the recommended amount. The group exercising twice the recommended weekly amount had a 22% lower mortality risk compared to those not meeting the recommended amount. Furthermore, the group exercising three times the recommended amount had a 25% lower risk, and groups exercising four and five times the recommended amount had 26% lower mortality risk compared to those not meeting the recommended amount. Additionally, the reduction in mortality risk from exercising above the recommended amount was 16% in people in their 20s and 22% in those aged 80 and above.

The researchers emphasized, "The association between physical activity and mortality risk was consistently maintained throughout the lifespan. Regular physical activity at all stages of adult life is essential for healthy aging and lifespan extension," adding, "This contrasts with the decreasing association between other factors such as education level, ▲smoking ▲alcohol consumption ▲weight ▲hypertension ▲diabetes and mortality risk as age increases, supporting the current guidelines that recommend the same amount of physical activity for all age groups."