Current guidelines suggest that adults should get about 150 minutes of moderately intense (or 75 minutes of vigorous) aerobic exercise per week to benefit from reduced all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer-related mortality. Previous studies have focused on measuring exercise levels at a single-point in time, with no studies examining how different activity levels at different stages of adulthood affect mortality.
Researchers from the US and UK conducted a prospective cohort study by mailing surveys to over 3.5 million AARP members. The surveys included a questionnaire asking about past exercise behavior at 15-18 years of age, 19-29, 30-39, and 40-61. The study authors analyzed data from 315,059 members, aged 50-71, who had completed the surveys. They then merged this information with National Death Index mortality records.
Compared to inactive participants, those who maintained the highest exercise levels at each age period were at lower risk for all-cause, cardiovascular-related, and cancer-related mortality. For example, exercising 2-8 hours/wk was associated with a 29% to 36% lower risk of all-cause mortality.
Participants who began exercising in their 40s and beyond also had a significantly lower risk for all-cause (35%), cardiovascular-related (43%), and cancer-related mortality (16%) compared to those who were consistently inactive.
According to an interview in the Guardian, the protective effects of exercise did not last forever, with the authors noting that…
If you have been active and you slowly decrease your exercise participation as you age, you lose a lot of the benefits that we know are associated with exercise.
In a related Time article, the study authors emphasized that…
It’s good to maintain an active lifestyle at all times regardless of your age…but…you can still benefit if you start becoming active in your 40s and 50s, based on our results.
Saint-Maurice, P. F., Coughlan, D., Kelly, S. P., Keadle, S. K., Cook, M. B., Carlson, S. A., … & Matthews, C. E. (2019). Association of Leisure-Time Physical Activity Across the Adult Life Course With All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality. JAMA Network Open, 2(3), e190355-e190355.
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