It’s never too late to start exercising, according to a new study that found people who transition from inactive to active lifestyles in adulthood can reduce their mortality risks by 22 per cent.
Health experts, scientists, and medical organisations agree that physical activity benefits both the body and the mind. What has been less clear is exactly how much exercise helps, which patterns of activity are most effective, and at which stages of life they are most important.
The new study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM) aimed to answer those questions by identifying how physical activity during adulthood can influence the risk of dying from heart disease, cancer, and other health issues.
Researchers analysed data from 85 studies of varying size. The number of participants per study ranged from 357 to over 6.5 million participants.
Overall, the analysis found that exercising in adulthood can yield significant health benefits, reducing the risk of mortality by 20 per cent to 40 per cent.
Specifically, adults who are regularly active can curb these risks by up to 30 per cent to 40 per cent.
And even those who transition from an inactive to an active lifestyle can reduce their risk of death from any cause by approximately 22 per cent.
Certain forms of fitness come with more health benefits than others
Exercise does not appear to reduce all health risks equally. For example, it was tied to a 30 per cent to 40 per cent lower risk of death from heart disease, but the links to cancer mortality were less clear.
Interestingly, not all types of exercise had the same effect on adults’ health.
The paper suggests that adults who work out in their spare time can reduce their health risks more than people who are active by happenstance at work or home.
The complex relationship between fitness and health risks
Some experts argue that the relationship between fitness and mortality risk is a little more nuanced than the latest study suggests.
“Based on these types of studies, we cannot very confidently say to what extent this lower mortality risk is due to the differences in activity or other factors that differ,” Marcel Ballin, who researches physical activity and health at Uppsala University in Sweden, told Euronews Next.
That could include genetics and environmental exposures that influence people’s health and well-being.
For example, a study published in the European Journal of Epidemiology earlier this year found that genetics plays a significant role in mortality risk. While physical activity was relevant, longevity reflects people’s overall health, not just that one factor, the study found.
Ballin suggested the latest findings should be taken with a grain of salt.
“What we can say is that if you are belonging to a group that is more active than the average, and you're consistently being active or increasing your activity over time, it seems to be good for your mortality risk,” he said.
“But, we need to be more careful when attributing the lower mortality to the activity itself,” he added.
