Study finds sweet spot in amount of weekly exercise

A long-term study conducted on over 100,000 patients found how much people should exercise to prolong their lives. The answer is probably more than you originally thought.

The study found that people who followed the US Department of Health’s recommendation to exercise between 150 and 300 per week had a 20-21% reduced risk of death. It also found that people who performed two or four times more than that number had even more health benefits, suggesting that you can’t really over-exercise.

Photo by Fitsum Admasu via Unsplash

RELATED: All forms of alcohol are bad for people this age, study finds

The study was published in the journal Circulation with the aim of finding out whether “prolonged, vigorous or moderate physical activity above recommended levels” provides more benefit or if it has the potential to harm people. To see these results, the researchers collected data from over 30 years of participants’ lives, giving them a complete picture of their lifestyles, activity levels and mortality rates.

Researchers collected all available data about patients, including their BMIs, ages, medical histories, diagnosed diseases, and more. Participants also reported on their personal habits and submitted training data.

The study found that adults who did twice the recommended amount of exercise each week had the lowest risk of death, particularly related to cardiovascular disease. There were no negative side effects associated with exercising more than recommended by the US Department of Health and Human Services.

“This finding may alleviate concerns about the potentially harmful effects of vigorous physical activity observed in several previous studies,” said Dong Hoon Lee, Sc.D., MS, Harvard research associate.

RELATED: The only way to eat healthy and exercise will help you live longer

Still, by taking this evidence and immediately linking longer workouts to longer lives, the researchers don’t want people to overdo it when it comes to exercise, despite the fact that’s been implied. They make it clear that observing the recommended training minutes per week is sufficient to live a healthy life, prevent illness and protect the cardiovascular system.