Mix workouts lower mortality in 100,000
- Harvard T.H. Chan School researchers reported that adults who regularly did several kinds of exercise had lower mortality than peers doing less-varied routines. - In 111,467 participants followed for more than 30 years, the highest activity-variety group had a 19% lower all-cause mortality risk. - The study adds variety to exercise advice beyond volume alone. (bmjmedicine.bmj.com)
Exercise advice usually starts with minutes per week. A new BMJ Medicine study says the mix of activities may matter too. (bmjmedicine.bmj.com) Researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health analyzed data from the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. They tracked 70,725 women and 40,742 men from 1986 to 2018 or 2020. (hsph.harvard.edu) (bmjmedicine.bmj.com) Participants regularly reported how much time they spent walking, jogging, running, bicycling, swimming, rowing or callisthenics, racquet sports, weight training, yardwork, and stair climbing. The researchers then scored both total activity and how many different activities people kept doing over time. (hsph.harvard.edu) (sciencedaily.com) The headline result was about variety, not just volume. People in the highest activity-variety group had a 19% lower risk of death from any cause than people in the lowest group, even after adjusting for total activity. (bmjmedicine.bmj.com) (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) The same pattern showed up across major causes of death. The highest-variety group had 13% to 41% lower mortality from cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory disease, and other causes. (bmjmedicine.bmj.com) Most individual activities were linked to lower mortality on their own, but not equally. In the paper’s highest-versus-lowest comparisons, walking had a hazard ratio of 0.83, weight training 0.87, tennis or squash 0.85, and swimming 1.01. (bmjmedicine.bmj.com) The researchers said the relationship was non-linear, meaning benefits did not keep rising in a straight line as activity increased. ScienceDaily’s summary of the paper described that pattern as a possible “sweet spot” rather than unlimited gains from ever more exercise. (bmjmedicine.bmj.com) (sciencedaily.com) The study was observational, so it cannot prove that variety itself caused longer life. The authors also noted that exercise was self-reported and that the cohorts were made up mainly of white health professionals. (hsph.harvard.edu) (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) The practical takeaway was narrower than “do everything.” Keep moving, but spread that movement across more than one mode if you can — walking, resistance work, and other activities counted separately in the analysis. (hsph.harvard.edu) (sciencedaily.com)
