Medindia LOGIN REGISTER
Medindia

Increase Your Life With Exercises!

by Anne Trueman on Dec 21 2012 11:54 AM
Listen to this article
0:00/0:00

The U.S. and Canadian scientists discovered that leisure time physical activity can enhance life by 5.5 potential years in non-Hispanic black women.

Ian Janssen of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and colleagues at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge and the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina assessed the potential years of life acquired by ‘moving around more when not working’.

Jansen stated that almost less than half of adult population in U.S. meets guidelines for physical activity of 150 minutes per week of mild to vigorous physical activity.

The researchers assessed ‘data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007 to 2010, National Health Interview Study mortality linkage 1990 to 2006 and U.S. Life Tables 2006’.

For the purpose of study, the physical activity level of 654,827 people aged between 21 to 90 years was noted. After ten years they were followed to see who all have survived.

The life expectancy of physically active adults was compared with the life of physically inactive and somewhat-active adults.

The researcher said that even little increase in physical activity is associated with longevity.

Advertisement
In contrast to inactive men, the somewhat-active and active non-Hispanic white men experienced an increase in the life expectancy at the age of 20 years by 2.4 years.

This increased life expectancy dropped to 1.2 years at the age of 80 years.

Advertisement
Identical observations were noted in non-Hispanic white females who experienced increase in life expectancy by 3 years at the age of 20 years and at 80 years, the increase in life expectancy was 1.6 years.

Exercises are not confined to looking beautiful and appealing. There are various other healthy perks associated with exercises. They enhance the health of your heart, keep your skin healthy and improve your daily sleep.

According to the scientists, a few minutes of physical exercises can make a huge difference in increasing longevity.

The scientist concluded that ‘non-Hispanics could expect to gain 2.3 to 5.6 hours of life for every hour of moderate physical activity, and 5.2 to 11.3 hours of life for every hour of vigorous physical activity they accumulate during adulthood.’

Reference:

Exercise can extend lifespan by five yearsUPI.com

Source-Medindia


Advertisement