Nov 18, 2024Walking can add years to your life, study says
A recent study found that walking can add as much as 11 years onto your life. The problem is, however, many Americans don’t get enough daily exercise.
Only 26% of men, 19% of women, and 20% of adolescents get enough activity to meet aerobic and muscle-strengthening guidelines, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
A recent article from Fortune.com detailed the study and its findings. Below is an excerpt from the Fortune.com article.
Researchers analyzed 2017 mortality data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. Over 36,000 Americans over age 40 were included, whose physical activity levels were based on data from the 2003 to 2006 National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey. They examined how much physical activity reduced or increased life expectancy.
Researchers translated all forms of moderate to vigorous exercise into the equivalent in walking minutes, to make the comparison between groups easier to interpret.
Activity levels were divided into four categories: The least active individuals were doing the equivalent of 50 minutes of walking per day; the next group was at 80 minutes of daily walking; the third group at 110 minutes, and the most active group was doing the equivalent of 160 minutes—nearly three hours—of walking per day.
One of the most shocking results of the study: The “enormous amount of life expectancy that inactive people can gain,” says lead author Lennert Veerman, Professor of Public Health, Griffith University School of Medicine in Queensland, Australia.
If all people were as active as the top 25% of the researched population, Americans over the age of 40 could potentially live an extra 5.3 years on average—raising their life expectancy to around 84 years old, the study concludes. And if the least active increased their exercise to the most active level, they stood to gain as much as 11 more years of life.
Even moving up an activity level can bring significant benefits. For the least active, moving up to the second group brought gains in life expectancy of 0.6 years, while going up to the third group added 3.5 years—corresponding to life expectancy at birth of 79 and 82.
As for the most active, you’ve likely already maximized any longevity gains, Veerman says.
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The U.S. Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans emphasize the importance of exercise for all-around well-being, not just longevity perks. Exercise is shown to help people sleep better, perform daily tasks more easily, improve physical and cognitive function, mental health, and energy levels, the DHHS says.
The DHHS emphasizes the importance of incorporating moderate- and vigorous-intensity exercise on a daily basis. That can be difficult if you live in places that are car-dependent and don’t already engage in a regular exercise routine, Veerman points out. But, every little bit counts, he says.
To read the full story from Fortune.com, click here.
