A Study Finds That Adults Who Exercised 150–600 Minutes Each Week Had the Lowest Risk of Death
According to a recent study published in the American Heart Association’s flagship peer-reviewed journal Circulation, individuals who exercise two to four times the currently recommended level of moderate or vigorous physical activity each week had a much lower risk of death. The research analyzed more than 100,000 individuals over a 30-year follow-up period. People who participated in two to four times the recommended amount of vigorous physical activity each week had a decrease of 21-23%, while those who engaged in two to four times the recommended amount of moderate physical activity saw a reduction of 26-31%.
Extensive research has linked regular physical exercise to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and early mortality. Adults should engage in at least 150–300 minutes of moderate physical activity or 75–150 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week, or an equivalent combination of both intensities, according to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans published by the US Department of Health and Human Services in 2018.
Currently, the American Heart Association recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic exercise, or a mix of the two, every week. These guidelines are based on the HHS Physical Activity Guidelines.
“The potential impact of physical activity on health is great, yet it remains unclear whether engaging in high levels of prolonged, vigorous, or moderate-intensity physical activity above the recommended levels provides any additional benefits or harmful effects on cardiovascular health,” said Dong Hoon Lee, Sc.D., M.S., a research associate in the department of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. ”Our study leveraged repeated measures of self-reported physical activity over decades to examine the association between long-term physical activity during middle and late adulthood and mortality.”
The all-female Nurses’ Health Study and the all-male Health Professionals Follow-up Study from 1988 to 2018 provided researchers with mortality data and medical records for more than 100,000 participants. More than 96% of the participants whose data were analyzed were white adults, and 63% of the participants were female. Over the course of the 30-year follow-up period, participants had an average age of 66 years and an average body mass index (BMI) of 26 kg/m2.
Every two years, participants in the Nurses’ Health Study or the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study completed a validated questionnaire to self-report their level of leisure-time physical activity. Every two years, the publicly available questionnaires were updated and expanded. The questionnaires asked about personal habits such as cigarette and alcohol use, frequency of exercise, and family medical history.
Exercise data was reported as the average time spent per week on various physical activities over the past year. Walking, low-intensity exercise, weightlifting, and calisthenics were all considered moderate activities. Jogging, running, swimming, biking, and other aerobic workouts were considered vigorous exercises.
Reduced Mortality Across Different Activity Levels
The analysis found that adults who performed double the currently recommended range of either moderate or vigorous physical activity each week had the lowest long-term risk of mortality.
The analysis also found:
- Participants who met the guidelines for vigorous physical activity had an observed 31% lower risk of CVD mortality and 15% lower risk of non-CVD mortality, for an overall 19% lower risk of death from all causes.
- Participants who met the guidelines for moderate physical activity had an observed 22-25% lower risk of CVD mortality and 19-20% lower risk of non-CVD mortality, for an overall 20-21% lower risk of death from all causes.
- Participants who performed two to four times above the recommended amount of long-term vigorous physical activity (150-300 min/week) had an observed 27-33% lower risk of CVD mortality and 19% non-CVD mortality, for an overall 21-23% lower risk of death from all causes.
- Participants who performed two to four times above the recommended amount of moderate physical activity (300-600 min/week) had an observed 28-38% lower risk of CVD mortality and 25-27% non-CVD mortality, for an overall 26-31% lower risk of mortality from all causes.
In addition, no harmful cardiovascular health effects were found among the adults who reported engaging in more than four times the recommended minimum activity levels. Previous studies have found evidence that long-term, high-intensity, endurance exercises, such as marathons, triathlons, and long-distance bicycle races, may increase the risk of adverse cardiovascular events, including myocardial fibrosis, coronary artery calcification, atrial fibrillation, and sudden cardiac death.
“This finding may reduce the concerns around the potentially harmful effect of engaging in high levels of physical activity observed in several previous studies,” Lee noted.
Maximum Benefits Reached at Moderate to High Activity Levels
However, engaging in long-term, high-intensity physical activity (≥300 minutes/week) or moderate-intensity physical activity (≥600 minutes/week) at levels more than four times the recommended weekly minimum did not provide any additional reduction in the risk of death.
“Our study provides evidence to guide individuals to choose the right amount and intensity of physical activity over their lifetime to maintain their overall health,” Lee said. “Our findings support the current national physical activity guidelines and further suggest that the maximum benefits may be achieved by performing medium to high levels of either moderate or vigorous activity or a combination.”
He also noted that people who perform less than 75 minutes of vigorous activity or less than 150 minutes of moderate activity per week may have greater benefits on mortality reduction by consistently performing approximately 75-150 minutes of vigorous activity or 150-300 minutes of moderate exercise per week, or an equivalent combination of both, over the long term.
“We have known for a long time that moderate and intense levels of physical exercise can reduce a person’s risk of both atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and mortality,” said Donna K. Arnett, M.S.P.H., Ph.D., B.S.N., a past president of the American Heart Association (2012-2013) and the dean and a professor in the department of epidemiology at the University of Kentucky College of Public Health in Lexington, Kentucky.
Arnett served as co-chair of the writing committee for the American Heart Association’s 2019 Guideline on the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, however, she was not involved in the study. “We have also seen that getting more than 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity or more than 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical exercise each week may reduce a person’s risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease even further, so it makes sense that getting those extra minutes of exercise may also decrease mortality.”
Reference: “Long-Term Leisure-Time Physical Activity Intensity and All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality: A Prospective Cohort of US Adults” by Dong Hoon Lee, Leandro F.M. Rezende, Hee-Kyung Joh, NaNa Keum, Gerson Ferrari, Juan Pablo Rey-Lopez, Eric B. Rimm, Fred K. Tabung and Edward L. Giovannucci, 25 July 2022, Circulation.
DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.121.058162
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
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