Many are confused about how much exercise optimizes health. The difference lies in understanding the distinction between the minimum amount of exercise per week to benefit health and the maximum amount to reap the most health rewards. Harvard University researchers in Boston conducted a longitudinal study of more than 115,000 American adults over a 30-year period to answer this question.
Investigators found that 300-600 minutes of moderate exercise per week reduced risk of death from all causes by 26-31%. People who did 150-300 minutes of vigorous exercise per week had a 21-23% lower risk of death. For those who do the recommended health guideline minimum amount of 150 minutes of moderate exercise, the risk reduction is 20-21%. Those who do the minimum recommended 75 minutes of vigorous exercise see a 19% risk reduction.
Most of the health benefits of exercise, therefore, are received from achieving health guideline minimums. Doing more, however, can optimize health. Any exercise above and beyond four times the recommended minimums did not deliver further risk reduction or improvements in longevity and—the good news—this extra volume of exercise did not increase harm risk.
“This finding may reduce the concerns around the potential harm of engaging in high levels of physical activity observed in several previous studies,” says lead study author Dong Hoon Lee, ScD, research associate in the department of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The study is published in the journal of the American Heart Association, Circulation (2022; doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.121.058162).
See also: More Exercise to Combat Heart Disease
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