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[LIFE-SAVING] Add 10 min of exercise daily to help prevent early death

It's known that relatively large increases in daily physical activity, such as 30 minutes or more, are likely to confer health benefits. This study took a big-picture view to examine the association between physical activity and mortality in a large representative sample of the US population to estimate the number of premature deaths prevented yearly with modest increases in moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity.

The researchers examined data from 4,840 adults ages 40-85 who were part of a US government health and nutrition study between 2003 and 2006. For seven days, participants wore monitors to record their activity. The researchers searched nationwide death data to see how many had died by the end of 2015.

After adjusting for multiple factors, they found that adding 10 minutes of exercise daily lowered participants' risk of death over the study period by 7%; 20 extra minutes reduced risk by 13%; and an extra half-hour of moderate to vigorous activity cut the risk by 17%. 

In other words, an extra 20 minutes of exercise could prevent close to 210,000 premature deaths a year, and 30 more minutes could prevent more than 270,000.

Although the study doesn't prove that additional exercise definitely prevents premature death, it's a reason to engage in as much physical activity as possible for personal health, and also for 2public health. 

To read the research letter, “Estimated number of deaths prevented through increased physical activity among US adults,” click here

 

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