A new study suggests that doing a moderate amount of strength training every week may help people live longer, especially when it is combined with regular aerobic exercise such as walking, running, cycling, or swimming.
Researchers analyzed data from three large long-term health studies involving 147,374 adults, including more than 31,000 men and 115,000 women.
The participants regularly reported their exercise habits over several decades. Aerobic activities included brisk walking, running, swimming, cycling, tennis, stair climbing, and other physically demanding activities. Strength training included exercises such as weightlifting, push-ups, squats, and lunges.
"Physical activity is not one single behavior," commented first author Yiwen Zhang, postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "Aerobic activity and resistance training may benefit health through different pathways, so it is important to study them separately and together."
After taking into account factors such as age, lifestyle, and overall health, researchers found that people who performed 90 to 119 minutes of strength training per week had a 13% lower risk of death from any cause compared with those who did no strength training.
However, doing more than about two hours of strength training a week did not appear to provide additional longevity benefits. The same amount of strength training was also linked to a 19% lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease and 27% lower risk of death from neurological diseases.
Meanwhile, when it came to cancer, the strongest benefits were seen among people who did smaller amounts of strength training. Those who exercised for just 1 to 29 minutes per week had a 21% lower risk of cancer-related death, while those doing 30 to 59 minutes per week had an 18% lower risk.
The study also compared different types of exercise. People who only did strength training for up to 119 minutes per week had a 7% to 11% lower risk of death compared with inactive participants. Whereas aerobic exercise alone reduced the risk of death by 26% to 43% among those who met recommended activity levels.
The biggest health benefits were seen among people who combined both forms of exercise. Participants who did 60 to 119 minutes of strength training along with regular aerobic exercise had a 45% lower risk of death. Among those who performed very high levels of aerobic activity, the risk of death was 53% to 58% lower, regardless of how much strength training they did.
"However, this finding should be interpreted cautiously," corresponding author Edward Giovannucci told Medical News Today. "Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's can begin many years before diagnosis, and early symptoms may reduce a person's ability or motivation to exercise. Also, neurological causes of death, especially dementia, can be difficult to classify accurately. More research is needed before drawing firm conclusions."
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