Exercise boosts life expectancy
A new large study shows that moderate, but regular physical activity can expand life span by 3.5 to 4.2 years even for obese people. Even the highly overweight, with a body mass index (BMI) above 35, can hope for longer life than sedentary people with normal weight, by having only 2,5 hours weekly of moderate exercise /or 75 min at vigorous levels/.
The research published by PLoS Medicine proves that normal BMI cannot ensure longer life to physically inactive people. Those “couch potatoes” with BMI between 20 and 25, a good one, were with greater risk of death in the next decade than obese people who were making exercises. This shows that even moderate activity is healthy, no matter if helps lose weight or not. The study included 431,479 people aged over 40. The physically active participants had twice as better chances during the actual course of study than the sedentary.
Another finding is that exercise can compensate a few years of life span in tobacco users or cancer patients, even those with heart issues. Smokers restored 2,5 years, and cancer patients – 5,3 years . Moreover, exercise gave them more time.
The research shows that a simple 10-minute daily walk can increase life expectancy. 2,5 hours of moderate exercise, or 1,25 of vigorous exercise, weekly give averagely 3,5 years. The increase of life span however, appeared to slow, as participants started to exercise at least twice as much.
In recent years, researchers discovered that exercise, even if it is not accompanied by loss of weight, influence risk factors for cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes. Many of them complained that the results of the study were not taken seriously enough. The worrying fact, according to them, is that more and more people are becoming obese. Lately the fact emerges that getting fit and in healthy shape is more important than losing weight.
