You’ve likely heard numerous times that walking at least 20 minutes a day is good for your health. But, did you know that a small amount of high-intensity exercise as little as twice a week could prolong your life? Gretchen Reynolds reports for The New York Times on the latest findings on the value of brief intense exercise.
In a multi-year study of more than 1,500 men and women in their 70’s, researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology found that those people who increased their heart rate regularly, for short periods of time, had a greater likelihood of living longer.
Any exercise will minimize the likelihood that older men and women will die prematurely. If that exercise includes some intense exercise, older adults are even less likely to die prematurely. And, we’re not talking major amounts of intense exercise.
Observational studies show that people who lead active lives are more likely to live longer. Small amounts of activity count. Those studies cannot establish a causal link between exercise and longer life. They simply look at the relationship between people who exercise and mortality, as compared with people who don’t exercise.
This long-term randomized controlled study set out to establish whether there was a causal link between different types of exercise and longer life. Researchers sorted several hundred older adults into three groups at different activity levels: those whose exercised twice a week, those who did something active, and those who did high-intensity exercise twice a week.
Some study participants suffered from a chronic condition, such as heart disease or cancer. Most walked or were active. Most were not seriously overweight.
For the five-year study, one group had to walk or be active for 30 minutes or so most of the week. A second group had to engage in moderate exercise two times each week for 50 minutes. A third group participated in a program of high-intensity interval training, HIIT, twice a week. They bicycled or jogged at a challenging pace for four minutes, four times, with a four-minute break in between.
A small percentage of participants died during the study. But, the people who engaged in the HIIT program were two to three percent less likely to die than the other participants. The HIIT participants also reported greater improvements in their quality of life than other participants.
The takeaway: Exercise, if you can, as regularly as you can. And, if possible, do some high-intensity exercise. It could add both years to your life and life to your years!
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