Staying Healthy
Adding 10 extra minutes of daily activity linked to a longer life
In the journals
Moving for an extra 10 minutes a day may add years to your life, suggests a JAMA Internal Medicine study published online Jan. 24, 2022.
Researchers pulled information on 4,840 participants in the ongoing National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The people ranged in age from 40 to 85 and wore an activity monitor for a week. The researchers divided the people into groups based on how many minutes they moved each day on average, and then checked how many died over the next 10 years.
Using the results as a sample, the researchers created what-if scenarios by calculating how increasing a person's average daily movement might affect death rates. They estimated that adding 10 more minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per day, like brisk walking or any similar activity, could mean 7% fewer deaths per year. Increasing daily activity by 20 or 30 minutes could lower the rate by 13% or 17%, respectively.
The results of this study add to the growing body of evidence supporting the health benefits of moderate-intensity exercise. However, it's an observational study, meaning it can only show an association between more exercise and longer life, but not prove cause and effect.
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About the Author
Matthew Solan, Executive Editor, Harvard Men's Health Watch
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