Hey, remember way back a week or so ago when I posted about how some study came out saying that when we don’t engage in at least 10 hours a week of moderate-to-vigorous activity, THIS IS NOT ENOUGH?!
If you missed that one, check it out here. All the things they said/all the things they said(about exercise duration): this is not enough…
But guess what? There are new studies out saying, well, different things, which makes them not like the other studies I reported on.
Turns out (according to this week’s science), any amount and kind of movement is good for just about whatever ails ya.
Yes, you likely know this, but it helps to have data on your side. Here’s a blurb from this Outside magazine article about a recent study on longevity and physical activity:
The study zeroed in on 3,600 subjects between the ages of 50 and 80, and tracked them to see who died in the years following their baseline measurements. In addition to physical activity, the subjects were assessed for 14 of the best-known traditional risk factors for mortality: basic demographic information (age, gender, body mass index, race or ethnicity, educational level), lifestyle habits (alcohol consumption, smoking), preexisting medical conditions (diabetes, heart disease, congestive heart failure, stroke, cancer, mobility problems), and self-reported overall health.
The best predictors for how to live longer? Physical activity, followed by age, mobility problems, self-assessed health, diabetes, and smoking. Take a moment to let that sink in: how much and how vigorously you move are more important than how old you are as a predictor of the years you’ve got left.
Note that body weight/BMI are not on the list of good predictors of longevity. Again, maybe you already knew this, but it bears repeating.
In more new and unsurprising but happy science, a big cross-cultural study offers evidence that even light and momentary physical activity can help us feel lighter in mood and also more energetic. Here’s what they said:
Investigators discovered that even light, non-structured physical movements, such as household chores, climbing stairs, or short walks, trigger immediate elevations in happiness and energy. Strikingly, the data unmasked a continuous virtuous cycle: individuals experience a sharp mood boost shortly after increasing their physical movement, and conversely, experiencing an elevated mood naturally primes individuals to become physically active shortly thereafter.
The idea here is super-cool: physical activity and improved mood/increased energy create a virtuous cycle. Each reinforces the other. See the technical graph below that I MADE ALL BY MYSELF, WITH NO GEN AI to explain.
The study gathered data from 8000 international participants, and has cross-cultural applicability. You can find more detail and an interview with one of the main researchers here. I love this main takeaway from researcher Yue Liao:
You don’t need a gym session to feel better. An increase above your own usual activity level will bring mood-enhancing benefits, especially by helping you feel more energetic.
Or, in other words:
Happy Wednesday to us all…
